Last month, David Bowie broke a nine-year silence by releasing the very good new album The Next Day, and thus far he’s refused any and all interview requests about the album and how it came to be. But now he’s given us something that might almost sort of count as an interview, or at least a vague roadmap of the album. The novelist Rick Moody, who sometimes writes about music for the Rumpus, contacted Bowie and asked for a “list of words” about the album. Bowie unexpectedly complied, sending a long list of words with no further comment. Some of them are really great words. Check it out below.

Effigies

Indulgences

Anarchist

Violence

Chthonic

Intimidation

Vampyric

Pantheon

Succubus

Hostage

Transference

Identity

Mauer

Interface

Flitting

Isolation

Revenge

Osmosis

Crusade

Tyrant

Domination

Indifference

Miasma

Pressgang

Displaced

Flight

Resettlement

Funereal

Glide

Trace

Balkan

Burial

Reverse

Manipulate

Origin

Text

Traitor

Urban

Comeuppance

Tragic

Nerve

Mystification

This is either further evidence of Bowie’s enigmatic genius or the most pretentious thing anyone has ever done. It could be both. In any cast, Moody has written a long piece about his interpretations of the list. The Next Day is out now on Columbia.