Arcade Fire have debuted a new music video for their latest single, “Creature Comfort.” Directed by Tarik Mikou the video consists of a single, continuous shot of the band in a dimly lit room. The camera remains stationary throughout as an array of strobe lights and spotlights illuminate the room and the band, who are decked out in sparkling silver suits. A news ticker with the lyrics then appears at the bottom of the frame as Win Butler begins to sing with a fluorescent light illuminating his face.
The aspect ratio of the entire video is done in the 2.35:1 style, which gives it a cinematic feel as the frame does not naturally fit the width of the screen akin to classic Hollywood movies that were shot with the same ratio.
Arcade Fire premiered “Creature Comfort” live earlier this year, and the song features more electronic and disco oriented musical attack: relying on pulsating synths and danceable rhythms. Arcade Fire are gearing up to release a new album, Everything Now, on July 28th. The record was co-produced by the band along with Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk, Steve Mackey of Pulp and Markus Dravs, known for his work with Coldplay and Mumford & Sons.
The album sees Arcade Fire which experimenting with a more electronic/disco influenced sound based on the first two singles they have released, a slight departure from the indie rock style that won them much critical and commercial acclaim in the past. Everything Now will be Arcade Fire’s first album since 2013s Reflektor and it will be their first album since leaving Merge Records for Columbia Records. The band are currently on a summer long tour of Europe and North America, the first time the group has done a substantial tour since 2014.
UPDATE (6/22): Arcade Fire have released an updated version of the “Creature Comfort” video – it’s essentially the exact same video, but with Pop-Up Video inspired facts bubbling up throughout the video. Random factoids include “The keytar was invented in 1453… 400 years before the piano!,” “The light up microphone was white hot. After each take, Win screamed “There must be a better way to do this!” The crew just laughed and laughed.,” and “The band was originally known as FunQUp (pronounced “funk you up”).” All clearly very true.
Photo credit Sharon Alagna
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