For the last few weeks, Win Butler has been teasing new music on his personal Instagram, leading fans to speculate a new Arcade Fire album might be in the works. Today, Butler has confirmed those suspicions in a series of social media posts.
Written on the eve of his 40th birthday, Butler said that he and wife/fellow band member Régine Chassagne “have been writing for the last couple of years.” In fact, Arcade Fire were already “a few months into recording new material” when the coronavirus outbreak hit.
“We had been exploring a lot of lyrical and musical themes that feel almost eerily related to what is happening now (we actually have a song called ‘Age of Anxiety’ written a year ago for Christ’s sake – ha ha ),” Butler explained. “Needless to say, the writing has intensified, and the work is flowing out… It is challenging as ever, and with just as much purpose.”
Butler added that he is “pouring my heart, soul and all of my precious time into the music and recording,” and that it’s possible Arcade Fire may perform some of the material via a livestream one day. However, he cautioned that the new music isn’t imminent. “When you listen to the music that’s coming (…eventually…not soon…if you don’t have patience by now, you definitely aren’t reading this), you will know what we were working on under quarantine.”
While the New Orleans indie rocker acknowledged the pandemic as a “crisis” that “may ultimately change or destroy aspects of the music industry,” he still offered an uplifting outlook for the future,
“I believe it will only strengthen music as an art form. It has never felt more essential, spiritual and irreplaceable…a church that lives in the air between the source and your ears… I just want you to know, dear reader, that you aren’t forgotten.”
Check out Butler’s social media posts below, followed by the aforementioned snippets of new music. Arcade Fire’s last proper studio album, Everything Now, dropped back in 2017.
Saw someone ask if you could listen to Wins story without an instagram account so whoever asked here ya go from arcadefire
OK WE CAN OFFICIALLY SAY THEY ARE WORKING ON LP 6 I AM READY TO START from arcadefire
