Mint 400 Records continues its tradition of celebrating legendary artists with Sound & Vision (The Songs of David Bowie), a new compilation that reimagines Bowie’s most iconic work. Among its standouts is a fierce contribution from New Jersey’s Those Mockingbirds, who take on Bowie’s politically charged anthem “I’m Afraid of Americans” with raw energy and conviction. Their version cuts through with sharp instrumentation and an urgent vocal performance, making it one of the most powerful interpretations on the collection.

For Bird, the track carried weight from the moment he first encountered it. “I first heard ‘I’m Afraid Of Americans’ when I was a kid,” he explained. “NIИ did the remix and the video was on MTV in the late 90s pretty often. I assumed it was a modern take on a classic Bowie song from the 70s because come on, listen to that chorus, it’s a generational stadium anthem. But I was wrong, Bowie had written it in 1994. I always thought the lyric was extremely clever too, as it is the first time in my life it occurred to me that the rest of the world didn’t view Americans the way we are taught to view our country while growing up. Forcing me to instinctually understand what propaganda is doing.”

That revelation eventually fed into a deeper appreciation of Bowie’s work. “Later on, I had a big Bowie phase, one of those real deep dives into the entire catalogue,” Bird recalled. “The kind where you come to the conclusion that the Berlin trilogy is Picasso-level-art. A path to realization which many have taken before me, that Bowie MUST have been an alien or a man from the future. It’s the only way to make sense of what he left us.”

Those Mockingbirds’ rendition of “I’m Afraid of Americans,” produced by Bird and longtime collaborator Kevin Walters, captures both the urgency of the original and the band’s own dynamic edge. It’s a reminder of the power Bowie carried as an artist, and of the continuing relevance of his message.