We (Arcade Fire album)

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We
File:WE (Arcade Fire).png
Standard cover
Studio album by Arcade Fire
Released May 6, 2022 (2022-05-06)
Recorded 2020–2021
Genre
Length 40:18
Label Columbia
Producer
Arcade Fire chronology
Her (Original Score)
(2021)		 We
(2022)
Singles from We (Arcade Fire album)

We is the sixth studio album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire, released on May 6, 2022, through Columbia Records. Produced by Nigel Godrich and band members Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, the album was recorded in New Orleans; El Paso, Texas; and Mount Desert Island in Maine. The album takes its name from the Russian dystopian novel We by Yevgeny Zamyatin.[1] It is the final album to feature multi-instrumentalist Will Butler, who departed the band in 2021 shortly after its completion.

We was preceded by two singles: "The Lightning I, II" and "Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)". The album received generally positive reviews from music critics and received moderate commercial success. It debuted at number six on the on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 32,000 album-equivalent units (including 26,500 copies in pure album sales) in its first week.[2]

Background

In April 2020, Win Butler posted a letter to his Instagram account, indicating that work on a new record had commenced prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and that the writing continued under lockdown measures. Butler noted that he had written a song entitled "Age of Anxiety" before the pandemic and that many of the themes he had begun to explore felt appropriate given the circumstances surrounding the pandemic.[3]

On October 21, 2020, Butler was interviewed for the Broken Record podcast, where he commented about Arcade Fire's sixth album.[4] The band had been writing for a year before the COVID-19 lockdown. During lockdown, Butler kept working and wrote "two or three albums".[5] In April 2020, Butler shared some snippets of new material in the social networks.[6] Arcade Fire had plans to record the album in Texas "during the election".[7]

On April 14, 2021, the band released a 45-minute instrumental piece, entitled "Memories of the Age of Anxiety" on the meditation application Headspace.[8]

In March 2022, fans received postcards marked with the band's logo; the postcards included the note "We missed you," musical notations, as well as an image of an eye with the word "Unsubscribe" written below. Those same images began to appear in signage around London as well as on the band's social media pages, indicating the earliest signs of a new album.[9] On March 14, the band announced a new song titled "The Lightning I, II" would be released on March 17.[10]

On March 17, 2022, Arcade Fire announced that the album is titled We and was released on May 6, 2022. It is produced by Nigel Godrich, Win Butler, and Régine Chassagne. The album was recorded in New Orleans, El Paso, Texas, and Mount Desert Island in Maine. The cover artwork features a photograph by French artist JR with airbrush color tinting by Terry Pastor.[11] Later that week, Will Butler announced he had amicably left the band in 2021 shortly after the completion of We.[12]

After the release of the album on May 6, 2022, the band appeared on Saturday Night Live the next night, playing "Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)", "The Lightning I, II", and "End of The Empire II" over the closing credits. They ended the Mother's Day performance with Win Butler stating “A woman’s right to choose forever and ever and ever, amen.”[13]

Composition

Musically, We shifts "smoothly and deliberately" between "gentle" folk rock and "grooving" dance-pop.[14]

The track “Unconditional II (Race and Religion)” features backing vocals by Peter Gabriel.[15]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 74/100[17]
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 3.5/5 stars[18]
The Daily Telegraph 5/5 stars[19]
Exclaim! 7/10[14]
The Guardian 3/5 stars[1]
The Independent 5/5 stars[20]
The Line of Best Fit 9/10[21]
NME 4/5 stars[22]
Paste 8.3/10[23]
Pitchfork 7.0/10[24]
Slant Magazine 3.5/5 stars[25]

We has been met with generally positive reviews from music critics. On Metacritic, it currently holds a score of 74 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews" based on 27 reviews.[17]

Commercial performance

We debuted at number six on the on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 32,000 album-equivalent units (including 26,500 copies in pure album sales) in its first week.[2] It is Arcade Fire's fifth US top-ten debut on the chart.[2] The album also accumulated a total of 6.43 million on-demand official streams for the album's songs.[2]

Track listing

Digital track listing
No. Title Length
1. "Age of Anxiety I"   5:27
2. "Age of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole)"   6:41
3. "Prelude"   0:30
4. "End of the Empire I–III"   5:23
5. "End of the Empire IV (Sagittarius A*)"   3:54
6. "The Lightning I"   3:01
7. "The Lightning II"   2:34
8. "Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)"   4:33
9. "Unconditional II (Race and Religion)" (featuring Peter Gabriel) 4:20
10. "We"   3:51
Total length:
 40:18
CD/vinyl track listing
No. Title Length
1. "Age of Anxiety I"   5:27
2. "Age of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole)" (includes "Prelude") 7:11
3. "End of the Empire I–IV
  • I. Last Dance
  • II. Last Round
  • III. Leave the Light On
  • IV. Sagittarius A*"  
 9:17
4. "The Lightning I, II"   5:35
5. "Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)"   4:33
6. "Unconditional II (Race and Religion)" (featuring Peter Gabriel) 4:20
7. "We"   3:51
Total length:
 40:18

Personnel

Adapted from the full album credits, with track numbers corresponding to the digital release.[26]

Charts

Chart performance for We
Chart (2022) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[27] 11
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[28] 4
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[29] 4
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[30] 3
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[31] 1
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[32] 22
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[33] 5
1
Italian Albums (FIMI)[34] 19
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[35] 20
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[36] 15
Scottish Albums (OCC)[37] 1
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[38] 42
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[39] 2
UK Albums (OCC)[40] 1
US Billboard 200[41] 6
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[42] 1
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[43] 1

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Arcade Fire – We" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  29. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Arcade Fire – We" (in French). Hung Medien.
  30. ↑ "Arcade Fire – Chart history" Billboard Canadian Albums Chart for Arcade Fire.
  31. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Arcade Fire – We" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  32. ↑ "Arcade Fire: We" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
  33. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Arcade Fire – We" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Arcade Fire – We". Hung Medien.
  40. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  41. ↑ "Arcade Fire – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Arcade Fire.
  42. ↑ "Arcade Fire – Chart history" Billboard Top Alternative Albums for Arcade Fire.
  43. ↑ "Arcade Fire – Chart history" Billboard Top Rock Albums for Arcade Fire.
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