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Sep 06, 2018 By Christopher Roberts Ladytron

Ladytron have shared a video for “The Island,” the second single from their forthcoming new album. Bryan M. Ferguson directed the video, which features a naked humanoid female (perhaps an alien, perhaps an experiment or a clone) escaping from a lab and being hunted. The science fiction-themed video has a somewhat disturbing climax. Watch it below.

In a press release Ferguson had this to say about the video, which was shot in Glasgow: “It implicitly examines today’s current climate and where we’re headed. It explores the alienation and tyranny that we’re forced to swallow on a daily basis. It also offers a sharp commentary on our dual human nature and our present social environment. Overall, the film is a nihilistic look at society’s lack of progress.”

The video stars Vari Watt as “The Experiment.”

The details of Ladytron’s new album (such as its title or release date) have yet to be announced, although a press release says it’s due out in early 2019. Back in March Ladytron released their first new music in seven years, the new song “The Animals.” It was one of our Songs of the Week. Then they also shared a remix of the song by Vince Clarke of Erasure (and formerly of Depeche Mode) and a video/short film for “The Animals” filmed in São Paulo, Brazil. Then the band shared the audio for another new song, “The Island” (it was an honorable mention in our Songs of the Week list), and also released an additional track, “Tropic of Capricorn,” digitally and as the B-side of “The Island” 7-inch.

Singer Helen Marnie had this to say about “The Island” in a previous press release: “These past two years, during which we’ve been making this record, have been an accelerating turmoil, traumatic for everyone. I think only by confronting and embracing this reality do we stand a chance of getting beyond it.”

It’s been seven long years since Liverpool-formed electro-pop quartet Ladytron released their last album, 2011’s Gravity the Seducer. Under the Radar go way back with the band, we interviewed them about their debut album, 604, way back in our very first print issue in 2001. Since their last album, Marnie released two solo albums and Daniel Hunt co-produced the comeback EP by iconic shoegazers Lush. Earlier this year Ladytron launched a Pledge Music campaign to raise funds for their next album (check it out here).

Jim Abbiss, who produced Ladytron’s 2005 album Witching Hour, worked with the band on “The Animals.” The Pledge Music campaign offers such rewards as the lyrics to any of their songs handwritten and autographed by a member of the band, vinyl test pressings, a photo book about the history of the band, and more.

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