Every year, Win Butler usually participates in the NBA all-star basketball game because he is tall (6’4″) and apparently good at basketball. But for the first time in a while, he’s sitting out this year’s game, as he revealed on Instagram last week. At the time, he said he was “in the middle of an exciting project,” which was the reason he couldn’t make it out for the game.

In a new interview that Butler did with a Ringer podcast, he revealed that the reason why he can’t play is because he’s in the middle of recording a new Arcade Fire song. As ArcadeFireTube points out, Butler says that the track “will actually be out sooner than later.”

A new single would represent Arcade Fire’s first new material since 2017’s Everything Now.

Richard was down in New Orleans on Feb 2nd recording with long-time Arcade Fire producer Markus Dravs. Feels like it could very well be connected to this. [Instagram: rrparry] pic.twitter.com/OVQ4ZHDNAo

— Arcade Fire Tube (@ArcadeFireTube) February 15, 2019

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I’m not hanging up my shoes 👟 just yet…but in the middle of an exciting project and I won’t be able to make the @nbaallstar celebrity game this year. I’ll be back another year… still 4-0 so there’s always that 😂

A post shared by Win Butler (@djwindows98) on Feb 7, 2019 at 10:09am PST