Arcade Fire have finally lifted the veil on their new single “Reflektor” which — if you’re any fan of their more dance-happy, disco-laden songs like “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” and “Half Light II (No Celebration)” from their last album “The Suburbs” — will make you pretty happy.
It’s more than seven minutes of what most definitely sounds like one of their collaborations with LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, who co-produced the new album. This title track additionally gets the enhancement of two new music videos, one standard directed by Anton Corbijn and one interactive through some geniuses at Google Chrome with director Vincent Morisset.
For the Chrome version of the video, some of the technology may interfere with your actual ability to view (browser, mobile tech and video cards), but you will get a good idea of what you’re in store for by watching this featurette and exploring some of the images. In this version of the video, the user follows the protagonist/dancer Axelle “Ebony” Munezero through the streets in Haiti. Arcade Fire have spent recent years supporting non-profits and causes from the troubled country, where co-founder Régine Chassagne was born.
Visit justareflektor.com to see the interactive video in Chrome.
Corbijn’s black-and-white version of the “Reflektor” experience has its own quirks, too, as the band dons oversized papier mache heads like puppet versions of themselves, hunting down the Disco Ball Man and putting the doll versions of themselves in a shiny coffin. As you do. It’s actually a really lighthearted look, at times, at the Montreal-based band, who have made a mystery of themselves in promoting “Reflektor” up until this point. Win Butler and Chassgne put on a good show for this epic-length tune, which plays with the ideas of disillusion, self-reflection and reality, much like “The Suburbs” did.
Interestingling, those cartoony heads were a highlight from the “dance-activated” vid for “Sprawl II,” which Morisset directed. There’s a continuing theme here, if it’s just that the band likes a challenge when playing their instruments.
“Reflektor” as a song just goes and goes, with multiple climaxes, points of entry, and would kill as a instrumental-only. Based on the dance moves in the Corbijn clip, they’re having a good time playing it, too.
“Reflektor,” the album, is out on Oct. 29. Happy Halloween, we know what you’re dressing as.