The Mars Volta Return with New Single “Blacklight Shine,” Fall Tour
It's the duo's first new single in over 10 years
Photo by Fat Bob
The Mars Volta have returned with “Blacklight Shine,” their first new single in over a decade. The duo composed of guitarist/composer Omar Rodríguez-López and singer/lyricist Cedric Bixler-Zavala announced their comeback Tuesday along with a short film and a run of tour dates, which will kick off in September.
Instead of simply releasing their single, The Mars Volta wanted to create an immersive experience for listeners. On June 19, an inexplicable cube appeared in Grand Park in Los Angeles. The band would later reveal that it was “L’YTOME HODORXÍ TELESTERION,” an audio-visual art installation they created to celebrate the end of their hiatus. Inside the cube, visitors embarked on a multi-sensory journey to outer space, where they heard “Blacklight Shine” for the first time. The band intended to provoke self-reflection as fans drifted through the cosmos, finally returning to Earth and their innermost selves.
“Blacklight Shine” encapsulates the idea of “a wave of rolling blackouts washing memories onto shore, a heartbeat that still remembers everything,” Bixler-Zavala says of the lyrics.
The meditative single seems to sway, and resembles the ebb and flow of the tides. The Caribbean rhythms and off-kilter percussion add an island flair reiterated in the short film that features people dancing at a seaside drum circle.
For fans who were unable to experience “L’YTOME HODORXÍ TELESTERION,” in person, the band plan to release a digital version on July 1.