Today marks Arcade Fire co-leader Win Butler’s 40th birthday, and he’s sent out an update on what the band has been up to.
While it’s been almost three years since the release of Everything Now, Arcade Fire have been working on following up the renowned record with new music under quarantine. Butler reveals that the album feels “almost eerily related to what is happening now,” in a handwritten letter posted on Instagram. While they’re in the process of recording, don’t get your hopes up too high, as Butler says we shouldn’t expect new tunes too soon.
“Regine and I have been writing for the last couple of years, and the band was a few months into recording new material when COVID-19 hit,” Butler writes. “We had been exploring a lot of lyrical and musical themes that feel almost eerily related to what is happening now (we have a song called Age of Anxiety written a year ago for Christ’s sake – ha ha). Needless to say, the writing has intensified, and the work is flowing out.”