The Strokes Close In on Colbert’s Final Week With a Late Show Premiere of “Falling Out of Love”

Stephen Colbert is spending his final stretch on The Late Show with a guest list that looks less like a goodbye and more like a run of last statements. Foo Fighters turned up on Wednesday, and on Thursday night (May 14) The Strokes took their turn, using the CBS stage to debut “Falling Out of Love” in a performance that matched the song’s detached, compressed mood with a fairly elaborate visual setup.

Julian Casablancas and the rest of the band were placed on their own separate, illuminated platforms, each member framed by laser outlines while a backdrop of stock Americana cycled behind them: small towns, bright lights, the country as a set of generic symbols. It was a fittingly strange presentation for a song whose most notable detail is its heavily Auto-Tuned vocal treatment, and for a band that has long understood how to make understatement feel like a position.

The performance marked the Late Show premiere of “Falling Out of Love,” the second track to arrive from the Strokes’ upcoming seventh studio album