Ferris Buller famously said on the morning that he took a day off – ‘Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.’
The quote came to mind as I listened to Duran Duran’s new single, Pressure Off, and realised it’s been five years since they last released new material – the superb All You Need Is Now album.
In the blink of an eye, it’s now 2015 and I’m older but not any wiser – though I have grown a magnificent beard to try and appear sage-like – and the band are back with a bang.
They have been working again with the musical genius that is Nile Rodgers, while Mark Ronson is co-producing the new album with Rodgers after his sterling work on All You Need Is Now, and while the sound is unmistakeably Duran Duran, there’s also a vibrancy and vitality to it which is fully immersed in the present thanks to these influences.
Pressure Off also features the vocal talents of Janelle Monáe, an American singer/songwriter. I have to confess it was a name I wasn’t familiar with, though that probably says more about my lack of knowledge about the current music scene – I’m a middle-aged guy, so you’ll need to forgive me! But her presence on the track gives it an added boost.
Duran Duran have returned with a superb new single with augurs well for the forthcoming Paper Gods album, which is due for release in September.
You can download the song on Amazon HERE or on iTunes