Sophia Michaels
Arctic Monkeys are continuing to tease the release of their upcoming album, The Car, with a new single. On Thursday, the British band released the LP’s second single, “Body Paint.”
“Straight from the cover shoot/There’s still a trace of body paint/On your legs and on your arms and on your face,” sings Alex Turner. “And I’m keeping on my costume/And calling it a writing tool/And if you’re thinking of me/I’m probably thinking of you.”
The vintage video — filmed in London and Missouri and directed by Brook Linder— captures Turner as he lights a cigarette from a flame on a “The Fool” playing card. Throwback road signs sporadically show on screen, and vintage clips of old camera equipment are spliced throughout.
Turner previously spoke to The Big Issue about how he was inspired by Oscar-winning film editor Walter Murch when making the record.
“There’s a bunch of interesting ideas that he’s speaking about,” said Turner about Murch’s book. “And that feels connected to the process and also the feel or lyrics on this new record.”
“He talks about meeting some friends of his wife, and one of them says: ‘So you’re the guy who cuts out all the bad bits, then?’” Turner added at the time. “Initially, he is offended, but after all these years, he came around to thinking: ‘Well, yeah, that is actually what I’m doing.’ But the question is: ‘What constitutes a bad bit?’”
The track follows the release of “There’d Better Be a Mirrorball” earlier this year and their performance at Life Is Beautiful this month, where they performed “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am” from the forthcoming LP. The Car is the band’s seventh album and follows the release of their 2018 record, Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino.
The band is set to perform “Body Paint” live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon tonight. They’re also going on a U.K. stadium tour next summer.
