Arctic Monkeys have a hard conversation with a liar on their new song, “Body Paint.”
This latest preview of upcoming album The Car finds the Sheffield squad in introspective lounge lizard mode over sparkling piano and slowed-down drums. “For a master of deception and subterfuge,” Alex Turner sings to open the song, “You’ve made yourself quite the bed to lie in.” Despite Turner’s previous remarks that this album will be “louder,” “Body Paint” suggests that they’re still interested in beauty over bangers.
He tells his partner, “So predicable, I know what you’re thinking/ I’m watching your every move, I feel the tears are coming on.” Whatever excuses they may have, he doesn’t want to hear them. Over pained strings, he laments that his interlocutor remains stained from doing other things. In what is probably a metaphor, he wails, “Straight from the cover shoot/ There’s still a trace of body paint/ On your legs and on your arms and on your face.”
“Body Paint” comes with a music video directed by Brook Linder. It uses motifs of going around in circles and screens-within-screens to tease out the themes of the lyrics, and you can check it out below.
The Car arrives October 21st and pre-orders are ongoing. Previously, Arctic Monkeys previewed the album with a live performance of “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am,” and the single, “There’d Better Be a Mirrorball,” which we named Song of the Week. Arctic Monkeys recently announced a December and January tour through Australia and a UK stadium tour with The Hives; tickets are available via Ticketmaster.