Nirvana and REM, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, Pharell and Michael Jackson. These are just a few collaborations that we were so close to getting but never, or probably never, will. Now there’s another one you can add to the list of almost-collaborations.

LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy recently revealed that he and music icon David Bowie nearly began working on a joint album. The news first broke when Murphy was speaking to Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1. When mentioning Lou Reed as someone who would have starstruck Murphy, the frontman opened up about his relationship with Bowie. “I don’t think I could have talked to him [Reed]…And that’s saying a lot because I knew David Bowie, I talked to David Bowie. I thought I couldn’t talk to him, but he was so gracious and so friendly…I had an email relationship with David Bowie, which was one of the weirder, more amazing things.”

Murphy added that he “played a little percussion” on Bowie’s latest (and final) album Blackstar, but “was supposed to do a lot more.” This wasn’t the first time the two had worked together, however. The pair had first worked together when Murphy recorded backing vocals on Arcade Fire’s “Reflektor,” as well as remixing Bowie’s “Love is Lost.”

When working on Blackstar, Murphy was originally meant have a much larger role on the project. According to Murphy, he was approached by Bowie and producer Tony Visconti to co-produce the record, but was “overwhelmed” by the prospect.

While Murphy elaborated on not feeling like he “belonged” in the co-producer position, he also mentioned that there were plans to do a collaborative project together at some point. “I reached out to David and said, ‘I’d love to do a record just me and you’,” he said. “He said, ‘It’s funny you mention that, please look me up when you get back to New York.’” While the two met up according to Murphy, Bowie had already begun work on Blackstar, and well, you know the tragedy that happened following that.

David Bowie was recently inducted into the the Library of Congress after cleaning up at this past year’s Grammy’s. Meanwhile James Murphy recently sat down to talk about the affect of ecstasy on his love of dance music after LCD Soundsystem announced a new album dropping this September.

Photo Credit: Sharon Alagna