Earlier this week, footage of Arcade Fire debuting a slew of new songs at their Ukraine benefit show in New Orleans surfaced. It did not take long for the Canadian indie arena rock champs to connect the dots and announce that their first album in five years, We, will officially be released on May 6th. Along with the announcement, they also shared the inspiring lead single, “Lightning I, II,” which was one of the songs that they played in NOLA.
We is produced by Arcade Fire power couple Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, along with super-producer Nigel Godrich. The band was said to have been working on the album a year before the pandemic started and recorded the tracks in New Orleans, El Paso, and Maine’s Mount Desert Island. Butler said it’s “the longest we’ve ever spent writing, uninterrupted, probably ever.”
The album promises to be a 40-minute epic, featuring seven tracks spread out across two deliberate sides that represent a light/dark motif. Butler expanded on the philosophical meaning of the album in a note that he penned:
Watch the video for “The Lightning I, II” above. And check out the track list for We below.
“I”
1. “Age of Anxiety I”
2. “Age of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole)”
3. “End of the Empire I-IV”
“WE”
4. “The Lightning I, II”
5. “Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)”
6. “Unconditional II (Race and Religion)”
7. “WE”
We is out 5/6 via Columbia.