Duran Duran's New 'Paper Gods' Album Coming

Duran Duran's 'Paper Gods'

DURAN DURAN's 14th studio album, "Paper Gods," will be released in the U.S. SEPTEMBER 18th and the rest of the world SEPTEMBER 11th through WARNER BROS. RECORDS.

The album was recorded in LONDON with producers NILE RODGERS, MARK RONSON, JOSH BLAIR and MR HUDSON and features special guests JANELLE MONAE (on the first single, "Pressure Off" ), former RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS guitarist JOHN FRUSCIANTE, CANADA's JUNO AWARD-winning singer KIESZA, violinist DAVIDE ROSSI and actress LINDSAY LOHAN.

"Paper Gods' will be available for pre-order and "Pressure Off" will be available for purchase at all participating digital retailers and DuranDuran.com this week.
 
The songs on the new album capture the duality and sense of conflict at the heart of DURAN DURAN's music, according to bassist JOHN TAYLOR. "It really goes back to that strange early DURAN mix: the hard-edged pop, coexisting with this dark, weird, experimental side."

"That's something that's essential to all of us," added keyboardist NICK RHODES. "It's great to be able to lift people's spirits -- and your own -- with a strong shot of pure pop, but the world we live in isn't all just made of that stuff, so it seems natural to me that we have kept one foot in the darker, more Gothic side of life."

Early sessions for "Paper Gods" began in 2013, with MARK RONSON and engineer JOSH BLAIR once again joining the band in their SOUTH LONDON recording studio, as they had for 2011's "All You Need Is Now," which was also produced by RONSON. When RONSON was called away to begin working on his own album, the band and BLAIR hooked up with KANYE WEST/JAY-Z collaborator BEN "MR" HUDSON, and the sessions caught fire. In the summer of 2014, RONSON returned once more to the project, adding long-time DURAN collaborator NILE RODGERS to the mix for two of the album's standout tracks. The remaining songs were co-produced by BLAIR and the band.

"We found a whole new level of inspiration on this album," says RHODES.

"We've allowed ourselves the time to make music that we can be proud of," adds singer SIMON LE BON. "I judge what we release by my favorite albums -- 'Horses,' 'Harvest,' 'Let It Bleed,' 'Blue,' 'Transformer,' 'Aladdin Sane.' The only rule is it's got to be music you can live with for the rest of your life."
 
CHIC co-founder RODGERS and RONSON co-wrote, and produced the album's first single, "Pressure Off," and "Only in Dreams."  The former harks back to the taut funk of DURAN DURAN's 1986 album "Notorious," which was also co-produced by RODGERS.

"'Notorious' was a strong touchstone for the band," says drummer ROGER TAYLOR. "'All You Need Is Now' definitely reflected our earlier albums, but our starting point here was 'Notorious.' We're fortunate to be able to be inspired by our own back catalog -- not many bands can say that."
 
In a collaboration overseen by CHINA CHOW, the band worked closely with L.A.-based artist ALEX ISRAEL, who created the album's cover art. It features a collage of images that reference the visual history of the band, each placed like a sticker on a reproduction of ISRAEL's "Sky Backdrop" painting.  The logo and graphic design are by BRIAN ROETTINGER. 
 
DURAN DURAN have also announced that they will perform a series of summer festivals, as well as several shows in the U.S. in SEPTEMBER and OCTOBER, followed by a UK arena tour that kicks off in late NOVEMBER.

In JULY, they will receive the SPOTIFY UK LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD at this year's 40th anniversary O2 SILVER CLEF AWARDS.

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