With less than two weeks until the release of American Dream, LCD Soundsystem have unveiled yet another brilliant single by the name of "Tonite."
Following previous singles "Call The Police" and "American Dream", "Tonite" is a glittering dance anthem that recalls more distinct elements of the LCD we know and love. The song debuted on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 following frontman James Murphy's interview this morning - however, it's not the first time we hear it. The band also premiered it during LCD's five-night residency at Brooklyn Steel back in April. As pointed out by Rolling Stone, the opening line - "Everybody's singing the same song / It goes "tonight, tonight, tonight" - was inspired by Murphy's observation that a lot of hit singles making the rounds at the moment revolve around the concept that "we only have tonight."
The band also dropped a new music video for "Tonite", which seems to be filmed with an 8track by director Joel Kefali and captures a live performance while on a glowing revolving stage. Watch it below:
While "Tonite" might feel like a late-night dance outing before realizing you've had way too many drinks, it's lyrics point to a darker direction, a possible insight into the general tone of the album. "And you're getting older / I promise you this, you're getting older," Murphy half-sings, half-speaks. "But the future's a nightmare / And there's nothing I can do / There's nothing anyone can do about this." During a three-hour interview with Tom Scharpling, Murphy called the previous singles " slightly misleading" in terms of introducing the album's overall tone.
Back in June, Murphy revealed in a Rolling Stone interview that dearly departed David Bowie convinced him to get the band back together. "I spent a good amount of time with David Bowie, and I was talking about coming back and getting the band back together," Murphy recalled. "He said, 'Does it make you uncomfortable?' I said 'Yeah,' and he said, 'Good – it should. You should be uncomfortable.' "And the first thing that popped into my mind was, 'What the? What do you know? You don't know what it's like to be uncomfortable.' Because I'm imagining if I was David Bowie, I'd just walk into the room and flip everybody off, like 'I'm David Bowie!' And nobody can say anything – unless maybe Lou Reed's there … But then of course that's not who he was ever in his life. He was always making himself uncomfortable. It was such a great feeling of, you just don't know what you are to anybody else."
LCD Soundsystem announced their seperation back in 2011. After a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden and documentary capturing their final moments (Shut Up and Play The Hits), Murphy focused on a variety of solo projects - even contributing to Bowie's Blackstar - before announcing an LCD reunion in January 2016. The band is now hot on the heels of releasing their latest effort, American Dream, which lands in stores September 1st.
Stream "tonite" below:
Find LCD Soundsystem via Twitter, Instagram and official website.
American Dream comes out 9/1. See them on Tour.
Vanessa is a music and culture writer. Follow her on twitter.
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