FUTURE PAST by Duran Duran

Future Past is the fifteenth studio album by the British band Duran Duran, released on 22 October 2021. It is the band's first album to be released through BMG, and their first since 2015's Paper Gods six years prior. The album, co-produced by the band alongside Mark Ronson, Giorgio Moroder, and Erol Alkan, also features guest appearances by Tove Lo, Ivorian Doll, Japanese band Chai, and Mike Garson. Blur's Graham Coxon is the guitarist on the album. The band released the album's first single "Invisible" on 19 May 2021. The tracks "More Joy!" featuring Chai, "Anniversary", "Tonight United" and "Give It All Up" featuring Lo were also released in advance of the album. John Taylor described Future Past as a "very emotionally deep album", revealing that the lyrics were primarily written before 2020's COVID-19 lockdowns: "Many of the songs are about emotional crises, or long-term intimacy issues, let's call them. When we came back after lockdown, I felt that those lyrics, particularly 'Invisible,' spoke to the moment, because the last 18 months have really been about intimacy politics." The cover is a colorized and combined image of two black-and-white pictures by Japanese photographer Daisuke Yokota. Nick Rhodes met Yokota in 2017 while researching for a documentary about Japanese photographers. The album's art director Rory McCartney laid the images over top of one another, creating the effect of a stationary silhouette in red with another silhouette in green moving beyond it, which resonated with McCartney. On 15 March 2022, a 14-date North American tour to promote the album, as well as to celebrate the band's album Rio's 40th anniversary, was announced. The tour was to begin on 19 August 2022 in Welch, Minnesota, and conclude on 11 September 2022 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Due to inclement weather, the first show was postponed to a later date. Nile Rodgers and Chic served as the opening act. Rodgers was a major early influence on the band and has collaborated with Duran Duran at numerous points throughout the band’s history. ℗ 2021 Tape Modern under exclusive license to BMG Rights Management (US) LLC