A few weeks ago, the Strokes unleashed their first new song since the release of their 2006 album First Impressions of Earth. The new track, called "Under Cover of Darkness," is the first single from the group's upcoming album Angles, which promises to pick up right where the band left off when they decided to explore other avenues away from one another. Though the music world has seen some seismic shifts in the time between Strokes releases, the quintet has retained its air of effortless cool and everyday swagger.
As if to drive home that point, the band just released the video for "Under Cover of Darkness," which manages to reintroduce the band to the world and nails their entire aesthetic with only a handful of well-executed images. The first part of the video takes place in what appears to be the ballroom of a mansion or the lobby or an ornate opera house and finds four of the five members passively (but smoothly) playing their instruments with an air of indelible cool. Frontman Julian Casablancas stands (or rather, sits) as a lone gunman, playing with a deck of cards dressed in his signature leather jacket and dark sunglasses. In just a few scenes, the clip marries the two worlds the Strokes have always inhabited — the glamorous and the scuzzy.
But then it moves into its second gear, which finds Casablancas donning a tuxedo and joining his fellow Strokes on the stage of a huge theater to perform the end of the song (complete with a conductor). In the key scene, the band is together again in the same frame, bathed in rich blue light and looking like the most important band in the universe (again).
Angles will be out on March 21, and the Strokes will also make their third appearance on "Saturday Night Live" this weekend (March 5).
What do you think of the Strokes' video for "Under Cover of Darkness"? Let us know in the comments!