Arcade Fire Announces New Album ‘WE’ & Shares Single

Arcade Fire returns with WE, a new album due out via Columbia Records on May 6. The Montreal-based band shared the album’s lead single “The Lightning I, II” with a video directed by Emily Kai Bock.

The sixth Arcade Fire studio album and first since 2017’s Everything Now was produced by Nigel Godrich, Win Butler and Régine Chassagne. WE features seven tracks recorded during sessions held in New Orleans, El Paso and Mount Desert Island. Spanning 40 minutes, the album was yielded from “the longest we’ve ever spent writing, uninterrupted, probably ever” as per Win Butler.

“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, and Side ‘WE’ expressing the joy and power of reconnection,” according to a press release. Arcade Fire debuted “The Lightning I, II” in New Orleans on Monday during a Ukraine benefit concert at the Toulouse Theatre.

Watch Arcade Fire’s “The Lightning I, II” video below:

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