Emerging from Montreal, Canada in the early 2000s, Arcade Fire quickly earned a reputation for transcendent live shows that brought arena-size ambition to stages of all sizes. Their debut album Funeral – widely hailed as one of the most important albums of the ‘00s – combined cathartic confrontation of tragedy and life-affirming celebration of love, hope and band members’ Haitian roots. The album has been named the #1 album of the ‘00s by Rolling Stone & has topped Best of the Decade lists from NME, Q, Pitchfork, The Guardian, Mojo and more. Subsequent albums Neon Bible, The Suburbs, Reflektor & Everything Now have earned the band three #1 albums worldwide, 9 GRAMMY nominations, 4 Juno awards, a BRIT Best International Album award, as well as an Academy Award nomination for the original score to the film HER.
WE, the sixth Arcade Fire album, is made up of seven songs that speak to this moment with unique directness. Written, recorded, and released during a critical historical juncture, they are divided into two distinct sides, “I” and “WE.” If the “I” side of the record evokes and embodies our holed-up anxiety and lack of physical connection, the “WE” side captures the excitement of new possibilities and the elevating thrill of committing to one another socially and personally. Produced by Nigel Godrich, Win & Régine, WE is a 40 minute epic as much about the forces that threaten to pull us away from the people we love, as it is inspired by the urgent need to overcome them.