This year, Duran Duran Appreciation Day is focused on the future, namely the band’s 15th studio album, “Future Past.”
The annual holiday celebrating Duran Duran was bookended with big pieces of album news. The band released the second single from the album, “More Joy,” last week, as well as revealing the album’s track listing. On Thursday, a video for “More Joy” is due to be released.
In addition to first single “Invisible,” “More Joy,” and “Give It All Up” (which was performed by the band on “Today,” minus the vocals of singer Tove Lo), the album’s 12 tracks include some surprises.
“Hammerhead” features a rapper, Ivorian Doll. The song with Bowie pianist Mike Garson is called “Falling.” And the contribution of Mark Ronson, save for possible collaborations on forthcoming bonus tracks, is limited to “Wing,” on which he co-writes and plays.
As for “More Joy,” the response has been positive. The curious inclusion of all-girl Japanese punk group Chai, in the end, seems spot on for the song. “More Joy” turns out to be a slice of pure Duran pop with just a sprinkle of Chai’s chants in the background.
In addition to the “More Joy” video out this week, Duran posted a “Behind the Scenes” montage for DDAD. The short video includes clips of the band, guitarist Graham Coxon, and producer Erol Alkan in the studio, plus commentary from Coxon and Nick Rhodes.
“It’s always good to give Duran Duran deadlines,” Rhodes says in the video. Indeed it is. “Future Past” is due out Oct. 22.
