Iggy Pop bows out gracefully on Post Pop Depression

Iggy Pop is a musical workhorse. He’s released 23 full-length studio albums from 1969 to 2016, and his performative exploits—like self-mutilation, caterwauling screams, and eschewing all manner of T-shirt in favor of bare-chested glory—make him a bonafide legend of punk. Iggy Pop has always pointed a towering middle-finger at the squeamish, and with his band The Stooges, existed as a stubborn champion of rebellion for 47 years. Pop’s grimy antics have refused to die, even as his counterparts become less grizzled with age.
While the 68-year-old’s music may have always suggested confrontation, it’s now taken a more subdued turn: Pop’s newest solo record, Post Pop Depression, isn’t an attempt to recapture the wild energy of Raw Power, nor is it a shot at redemption taken in the dark. It’s merely Iggy Pop being himself—the aging rocker whose creative vehicle isn’t yet running on fumes. Plus, having an all-star band comprised of Josh Homme, Dean Fertita (Queens Of The Stone Age) and Matt Helders (Arctic Monkeys) makes the record buzzworthy, if not immediately curious.
Post-Pop Depression is a study in bare-bones ’70s rock. The pace and style favors Pop’s throbbing monotone, which blankets each song with a warmth that’s both haunting and familiar. The album’s opener, “Break Into Your Heart,” sets a pretty darkened tone, using sparse guitars and foreboding synths to advance a sinister message: “I want to break into your heart, I want to crawl under your skin,” the singer drawls.