Indie rock trailblazers Arcade Fire have dropped their first new track in five years, “The Lightning I,II,” from the upcoming new album, We, set to drop on May 6th.
The song was first debuted Monday night at a Ukraine benefit concert in New Orleans.
For their first official single in almost five years (“Generation A” was played for a special Stephen Colbert Election Night 2020), fans received a postcard containing the sheet notes to the song’s effervescent riff.
Interesting, the release follows a M.O. from the band over the years where new single releases come in pairs, like “Sprawl I, II” from The Suburbs (2010), or in sequences like “Neighbourhood #1, #2, #3, #4” from AR’s break-through debut album, Funeral (2004).
The new double-single release is likely to please long-time AR fans – it’s ambitious, sprawling, and true-to-form. About the new tracks, NME wrote: “[Like] the band’s second album, 2007’s Neon Bible , there are quick dashes of the uncertain spirituality that has long lurked in frontman Win Butler’s lyrics.
He sings that “Jesus Christ was an only son” and that the “voices in the sky” – as well as a bolt of light – could lead them to some kind of salvation. The message, as ever, is somewhat murky, but you sense that they definitely want you along for the ride.
Parallels to Neon Bible’s noirish thrill are apt – ‘(Antichrist Television Blues)’, anyone? – but the song’s success is built on the band’s consistently concise and inventive melodies. The twinkling piano motif that guides the tracks, even though the punkish ‘The Lightning II’, is a continuation of their elite songwriting'”
Then there’s ‘Rabbit Hole’
Earlier this week, fan footage of a new Arcade Fire song, “Rabbit Hole,” emerged online after the band performed at a Ukraine benefit concert in New Orleans.
The new track was performed along with other new tracks like “Age of Anxiety” and “The Lightning I, II.” The concert was also live-streamed on Instagram and Tik-Tok.
The band performed ‘Rabbit Hole’ alongside other new cuts “The Lightning I, II” and “Age of Anxiety” at a Ukraine benefit concert in New Orleans earlier this week.
However, “Rabbit Hole” was not – the stream went down before the track was performed – so this is sort of a rare treat from a fan shot of the track as it played live.
The song borrows elements from “Memories Of The Age of Anxiety,” a 45-minute instrumental ambient track AR released for a meditation app last year. The version the band performed live features vocals from frontman Win Butler.