The “eagerly anticipated sixth studio album” from Arcade Fire has officially been confirmed — it’s titled WE and it’s set to drop on May 6.
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“Produced by Nigel Godrich, Win and Régine, and recorded in multiple locales including New Orleans, El Paso and Mount Desert Island,” Arcade Fire’s newest project follows up their 2017 album Everything Now.
After cryptically announcing their return via mysterious web ads and postcards sent to fans, the album’s first single, “The Lightning I, II,” was set loose on those “eagerly” awaiting fans, alongside an Emily Kai Bock directed music video, which you can check out below.
As shared in the albums official announcement, “WE paradoxically distills ‘the longest we’ve ever spent writing, uninterrupted, probably ever’ (per the band’s Win Butler) into a concise 40 minute epic – one as much about the forces that threaten to pull us away from the people we love, as it is inspired by the urgent need to overcome them. WE’s cathartic journey follows a definable arc from darkness into light over the course of seven songs divided into two distinct sides -- Side 'I' channeling the fear and loneliness of isolation," made up of "Age of Anxiety I," "Age of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole)," and "End of the Empire I-IV." And side 'WE' expressing the "joy and power of reconnection," made up of “The Lightning I, II,” “Unconditional I (Lookout Kid),” “Unconditional II (Race and Religion).”
Also explained in the press release is the album’s cover design. A photograph by the artist JR mixed with the airbrush coloring techniques of Terry Pastor (David Bowie’s Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust) is intended to evoke “Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy.”
Win also shared a personal story to help further explain the meaning of “What is ‘WE’? Who are ‘WE’?” —
My grandmother read me a book when I was a little kid that had the word “WE” stamped into its cover in broken 1920s gold leaf
As my eyes grew heavy, in the bedroom my father slept in as a child, I wondered…
What is “WE”? Who are “WE”?
There are questions that can rattle around in your head for a lifetime…
but once in a while the centuries grind to a halt
and WE are given the precious time
to ask again in our child-like inner voice
What is “WE”?
Hiding in the shadow of Carl Jung
is the WE that holds each other back
and tears each other down
the WE that whispers secrets
and complains about paradise
even heaven is too cold…
But also it is the “ONE” of Marley, the Buddha and Abraham
it’s the lightning strike
of our magic mutual creation
it’s the root
WE share
made of the same dust as the stars
WE pray to
It’s the dream of Martin Luther King Jr.
and the iron of the nail on the church door of his namesake
it’s the innocence and the mistake
the universal flaw and the perfect imperfection
The hipsters called it jazz
The hippies called it love
And we call it WE
Listen and watch “The Lightning I, II.” above.
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