Arcade Fire are set to release their first feature film into Australian cinemas on September 24. Almost two years on from the release of their fourth studio album, Reflektor, the film looks set to chronicle the massive tour that accompanied the double album. Kahlil Joseph, a Special Jury Prizewinner at Sundance 2013 for his short film Until the Quiet Comes, featuring music from Flying Lotus, compiled The Reflektor Tapes with the band. Joseph is no stranger to working with musicians, having also previously worked on Nick Cave‘s 20,000 Days on Earth, as well as LCD Soundsystem’s Shut Up and Play the Hits.
Arcade Fire introduced a short trailer for The Reflektor Tapes, which includes footage of the band in Haiti, as well as the band members discussing their music. Here’s a look at it:
The band has well known connections with Haiti, where Régine Chassagne‘s parents are from and where she and Win Butler have campaigned alongside Partners in Health to eradicate disease in. An extended 8 minute trailer centring on the song Porno, places the focus largely on the band’s time in Haiti before a traditional drumming beat is matched to elements of the Arcade Fire show in a transcendental account of the nature of music. It is well worth a viewing:
The band said of The Reflektor Tapes:
“There were parts of the Reflektor tour where I think we, Arcade Fire, came the closest in our careers to putting on stage what we imagined in our heads. We were insanely lucky to have Kahlil Joseph documenting from the very beginning.”
The movie promises to be another ambitious production from a band that seeks to give fans a greater experiential awareness through its music. The rhythmic drumming alongside the powerful image of Butler in an almost trancelike state of consciousness really illustrates that Arcade Fire are so much more than simply a band. Hopefully The Reflektor Tapes will be a further confirmation of Arcade Fire’s perfectionist desire to exceed their music.