It’s been nearly five years since Arcade Fire’s last album, the divisive Everything Now. While they haven’t been entirely quiet, it’s been a long slow buildup to any hints of new music. Back in 2020, Win Butler said they recorded “two or three” Arcade Fire albums during lockdown, and the band debuted “Generation A” on Colbert on election night. All across 2021 though, none of those albums materialized — just a long meditation app song and a show at a Vegas crypto party.

Recently, an Arcade Fire rollout began in earnest though. In the beginning of March, the band started sending fans postcards with music notation and the message “We missed you.” That seems to be a trend with previewing whatever this new album will be, since the band have shared another message like it on their Twitter.

This time around, we’ve got something concrete: On Thursday, Arcade Fire will release their first full-fledged single in years. It’s called “The Lightning I, II,” and it’s out that afternoon. Until then, they’ve provided the chords for you to mess around with.

Arcade Fire also just announced a show tonight in New Orleans, so maybe there’ll be some other new music in the mix.

UPDATE: Arcade Fire have joined TikTok and shared a preview of the new single.

@arcadefire

⚡️Thursday⚡️

♬ The Lightning I – Arcade Fire