Arcade Fire are heralding the Monday (September 9) release of their new single and video for “Reflektor” with an interactive mini-film created in partnership with Google Creative Lab.
The single “Reflektor” is set to premiere Monday night at 9 p.m., the release coming on the heels of an elaborate, long-tail campaign replete with twists and turns: spray-painted tags featuring the single’s title popping up around the globe, a mysterious Instagram account documenting said tags, and, finally, the news that the Anton Corbijn-directed video would drop on 9/9 at 9 p.m.
Sadly, part of the fun was spoiled this past weekend when the song, featuring David Bowie himself, leaked. However, the band proved that they still had some secrets up their sleeves when an interactive accompaniment to the song — directed by Vincent Morisset and created by Google Creative Lab — dropped Monday.
“Just a Reflektor,” according to the official description, was filmed in Haiti and tells the tale of a woman who travels between our world and hers. If that sounds obtuse, that’s because it is — the narrative and interactive elements intersect to create an experience that’s both dizzying and immersive.
After navigating to the experience via a Google Chrome browser, users will be asked to go to a dedicated site via their smartphone, punch in a code and hold up their device to the webcam as the video begins to play. Your phone will dictate what you see on the screen and, at one point, will find you reflected in a broken mirror, a meta part of the video itself.
This isn’t the first interactive, meta video that Arcade Fire has created. Three years ago, the band hooked up with Google to create their boundary-busting multi-browser experience “The Wilderness Downtown,” which used Google Maps to bring the viewer’s hometown into the experience.
“Reflektor” comes off of the band’s upcoming James Murphy-produced album of the same name, which drops October 29.
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