5 takeaways from Arcade Fire's new album, We

The legendary Canadian rock band is back. Five years after its last album, Montreal's Arcade Fire is releasing its sixth studio album, We, today. 

The album was recorded in New Orleans, El Paso and Mount Desert Island during the pandemic and, as reported two months ago, this will be band member Will Butler's last record with the band. (In an interview with Zane Lowe this week, brother Win Butler said, "I think fundamentally you only have one chance to raise your family and to kind of have a life with your family," referring to the fact that Will has three young children.)  

With lead single "The Lightning I, II," many proclaimed that Arcade Fire, a band that broke out in the early 2000s with its earnest, emotional rock anthems, had returned to its roots after years exploring different sounds. And there is some truth to that, with the band crafting big, stadium-sized sing-alongs on its new album. But as we dug into the album more, we discovered more details and complexity to the band's music now. 

Below are five big takeaways we had while listening to We. Arcade Fire is scheduled to perform at the 2022 Juno Awards, which will take place on Sunday, May 15. 

1. The album title is inspired by a 1921 sci-fi novel

Arcade Fire's sixth studio album is named after Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin's 1921 book, We. The dystopian novel, about a future surveillance state, went on to inspire the works of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley. While the Montreal band's album doesn't directly reference Zamyatin's work, it's clear that Butler and his bandmates are drawing parallels between the book's fictional world and the current state of our reality: the first half of the album explores loneliness and isolation, while the second half celebrates the power and joy of reconnection.

2. We is Arcade Fire's shortest album

Arcade Fire albums have occasionally run over an hour long, like on 2010's Grammy-winning The Suburbs and its 2013 followup, Reflektor. But at just 40 minutes long, We is Arcade Fire's shortest album, with tracks grouped into suites so each section plays out like a long opus that builds into its grandiose climaxes and sing-alongs. These songs are almost tailor-made as big concert moments, just as fans got a glimpse of during the band's recent, last-minute Coachella set. 

3. The band's obsession with technology is still present 

Technological alienation has been a persistent theme throughout Arcade Fire's discography, but was perhaps at its most divisive on the band's last album, 2017's Everything Now. While the satirical approach to that album is largely gone on We — the band is back in peak sentimental form here — Butler's obsession with the way technology has shaped us is still very much present in the new songs. And your mileage may vary depending on how much you can tolerate Butler repeating the refrain "I unsubscribe" on "End of the Empire IV," or singing the lines, "Born into the abyss/ new phone, who's this?" on "Age of Anxiety II." Some may laugh, others may cringe. 

4. The big rock anthems are back

The band's last two albums found the band experimenting more with their sound, using more synths (enlisting the help of LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy and Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter) and even diving into reggae and funk territory at times (Everything Now's "Peter Pan" and "Chemistry"). While the electronic influences can still be heard throughout We, Arcade Fire has returned to its anthemic rock roots on tracks like "End of Empire I-IV" and "The Lightning I, II," drawing inspiration from David Bowie and Bruce Springsteen.   

5. Old, new and familial guests appear on We

While they are no longer full-time members of the band, violinist Sarah Neufeld and Owen Pallett are still contributors to We, with Pallett playing the viola and providing additional engineering on "The Lightning I, II."

Most of the brass on the album is performed by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, a historic New Orleans group that Arcade Fire has played with in the past. Other notable guests include Pulp's Steve Mackay (who helped with pre-production), Portishead's Geoff Barrow ("Age of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole)"), Father John Misty (additional production on "Age of Anxiety I & II") and Peter Gabriel, who sings on "Unconditional II (Race and Religion)." 

Butler also turns We into a family affair: his mother, Liza Rey Butler, plays harp on "End of Empire I-IV" as well as the album's closing number, "We." Meanwhile, Butler and Régine Chassagne's nine-year-old son, Eddie, is credited with providing "whispers" on "End of Empire I-IV."

And stepping in to help helm the album is Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, U2) who co-produced the album alongside Butler and Chassagne. 

Don't miss the 2022 Juno Awards, hosted by Simu Liu, live Sunday, May 15, at 8 p.m ET/5 p.m PT. Tune in on CBC-TV, CBC Gem, CBC Radio One, CBC Music and CBC Listen, and stream globally on cbcmusic.ca/junos, CBC Music's Facebook, YouTube and Twitter pages.