The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are New York rock royalty — hell, they’re rock royalty, period. So how else should the band return for their first new music in nearly a decade than in a spiked-out limo with Perfume Genius as their driver? That’s what happens in the video for “Spitting Off the Edge of the World,†the band’s first new song in nine years — a small part of what happens, anyway, in a video that features Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer Karen O performing on top of the limo in a spiked helmet, Perfume Genius’s Mike Hadreas turning into a demon (happy Pride!), said limo exploding. (No spitting, though, in a surprise to anyone who’s ever actually seen Karen perform.) The new song is weighty, tense, and inspired by ongoing environmental degradation, per the band. “I see the younger generations staring down this threat, and they’re standing on the edge of a precipice, confronting what’s coming with anger and defiance,†Karen O said in a statement. “It’s galvanizing, and there’s hope there.†And as for the limo? That’s thanks to early Yeah Yeah Yeahs collaborator Cody Critcheloe, who did the cover for their debut album, Fever to Tell, and directed this video.
“Spitting†leads off the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ fifth studio album, Cool It Down, out September 30. The album, named for a Velvet Underground song, is the band’s first since 2013’s Mosquito. “Our fever to tell has returned, and writing these songs came with its fair share of chills, tears, and euphoria when the pain lifts and truth is revealed,†Karen O said. No way we’re cooling it down with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs fully back.