The Libertines have released a new song, ‘Night of the Hunter’, lifted from their upcoming album All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade. It follows lead offering ‘Run, Run, Run’, and it comes with a video directed by Alex Brown. Check it out below.
Discussing the song, Peter Doherty said in a statement: “We got the title from Charles Laughton’s directorial debut Night Of The Hunter starring Robert Mitchum as a preacher with ‘LOVE’ and ‘HATE’ tattooed on his knuckles. The song’s about not staying ahead of the law. This fella doesn’t really know why his mate’s dead, but he’s got a feeling his mate had it coming to him. He fucked with the wrong people, and he stole something he shouldn’t have, and he got stabbed. So, he’s angry and hurt and he has to go and get revenge, so he does and that’s it for him, basically. Once he has stabbed the lad who stabbed his mate, that’s it for him. He lashed out in revenge and he knows they’re coming to get him and he’s not even going to try and run because he knows he’ll just be running forever.”
Carl Barât added:
I started writing a riff and it ended up sounding a bit like Swan Lake, and everyone went, “Yeah!” Then we got Peter’s theremin player in which took about a day to get in tune, then he played that sequence and it worked beautifully.
The idea of getting carted off for ten years is horrendous… the condemned man dies 1000 times.
All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade, the Libertines’ first album in nine years, is slated for release on March 8.
