Arcade Fire Announce Sixth Studio Album 'We', Share New Track The Lightning I, II
Friday, 18 March 2022
Written by Jon Stickler
Photo: Michael Marcelle
Arcade Fire have announced their sixth studio album.
The long-awaited follow-up to 2017's 'Everything Now' is called 'We' and will arrive on May 6 via Columbia Records.
It was recorded in various locations, including New Orleans, El Paso and Mount Desert Island, with producers Nigel Godrich and Arcade Fire members Win Butler and Régine Chassagne. "[It's] the longest we've ever spent writing, uninterrupted, probably ever", said singer Butler.
Comprising just seven songs divided into two sides, the first channels "the fear and loneliness of isolation", and the second expresses "the joy and power of reconnection."
To accompany the news, the Canadian band have shared the ambitious, five-and-a-half-minute single The Lightning I, II, their first new music since their 2019 cover of Baby Mine for Tim Burton's live-action take on Dumbo.
Opening with an inventive melody, twinkling piano keys, and sweeping strings to create that familiar grandiose aesthetic the group are known for, the pace picks up for the second part, and the handclaps kick in over a synthy backdrop until the song's end. It comes paired with an Emily Kai Bock-directed video. Butler has also shared a note about its title.
'We' tracklist:
1. Age of Anxiety I
2. Age of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole)
3. End of the Empire I-IV
4. The Lightning I, II
5. Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)
6. Unconditional II (Race and Religion)
7. WE
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