The song is from the band’s upcoming 16th studio record
Duran Duran has released the new single “Black Moonlight,” taken from their upcoming album Danse Macabre, due for release on October 27th on Tape Modern via BMG.
The second of three new songs featured on the album, “Black Moonlight” sees Duran Duran reunited with long-time friend and collaborator Nile Rodgers in a timeless display of dance-rock glamour. Fueled by an instantly catchy bass line and infectious guitar hook, while Nick Rhodes’ synths sound as if cut straight from a sixties B-movie horror, the song also features former band member Andy Taylor on guitar.
“Nile Rogers is a force of nature,” keyboardist Nick Rhodes shares. “When we get into a room, we start playing, and magic happens. Nile always says that Chic is his first band, and Duran Duran is his second. Thematically, I personally prefer the moon to the sun. Simon took the idea and ran with it.”
“‘Black Moonlight’ is this classic Duran Duran-Nile Rodgers collaboration,” adds Simon Le Bon. “When Nile started playing his guitar in the studio, he really inspired everyone with his riff, and the song just kind of wrote itself.”
Catalyzed by one special live performance that Duran Duran filmed in Las Vegas on October 31 of last year, Danse Macabre is the soundtrack to their ultimate Halloween party. Across 13 tracks the band unearths bright melodies from the darkness, threading together new songs, themed covers, and newly reimagined versions of their own ‘spooky’ classics.
Fans can look forward to Duran Duran’s Halloween covers of Billie Eilish’s “Bury A Friend,” Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” featuring Victoria De Angelis of Måneskin, The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black,” the Rick James-inspired “Super Lonely Freak,” Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Spellbound,” Cerrone’s “Supernature” and The Specials’ “Ghost Town.”
As well as Nile Rodgers, the album includes more special collaborations with former Duran Duran band members Andy Taylor and Warren Cuccurullo, Victoria De Angelis of Måneskin, and producers Josh Blair and Mr Hudson.
The origin of Danse Macabre begins in Las Vegas, October 31, 2022. Simon Le Bon, John Taylor, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor donned full fancy dress, cast a horde of ghouls on a stage complete with 20-foot-high skeletons, tombstones, cobwebs and coffins. The set included a parade of rarities and special covers – Duran Duran’s first live performance of “Secret Oktober” since 2011, their first of “Love Voodoo” since 2017, and first of ‘Nightboat’ since 2005. Covers of Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Spellbound,” Cerrone’s “Supernature” and The Specials’ “Ghost Town” were also debuted in what has gone down in Duran Duran history as a Halloween show for the ages. The band and their audience had so much fun that they decided to put the set to tape, creating a worldwide Halloween event for all Duran Duran fans to enjoy.
Danse Macabre follows a wave of landmark achievements for Duran Duran. Their 2022 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame marked yet another career peak with the year already having seen the band headline London’s Hyde Park, perform at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace, close the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in their home town of Birmingham, and a headline tour across North America which included sold-out shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden and three nights at the Hollywood Bowl.
