Arcade Fire debut brand new political track 'Generation A’ on US election night

Music
04 Nov 20

Arcade Fire live at Electric Picnic 2011 by Ruth Medjber.

Frontman of rock behemoths Arcade Fire, Win Butler, confirmed in April that the band have working on a new album with a handwritten letter on Instagram.

Canadian indie-rock band Arcade Fire have returned to debut a brand new track for a special election night programme.

Airing on US television last night (November 3), the show was hosted by Stephen Colbert and broadcast on Showtime.

The new, politically conscious track is titled 'Generation A', and touches on the themes of social change, hope for the future and overcoming adversity in a divided nation.

“Say wait until tomorrow/'cos today is always strange,” Win Butler sang on the track.

“Say wait until you’re older and you will understand/ They say the generation’s coming/ I don’t think they understand that I am not a patient man.”

The chorus features the frontman singing the song’s title while his bandmates chant “wait, wait, wait” behind him.

Arcade Fire also shared a special election day playlist with fans in partnership with the #JoyToThePolls initiative.

The compilation included tracks such as Harry Nilsson’s ‘I’d Rather Be Dead’ and Richard Hawley’s ‘Tonight The Streets Are Ours’.

The group also shared a new performance of their hit 2010 track ‘Culture War’ last week as part of Bon Iver’s ‘A Campaign to Make Your Vote Count’ initiative.

“Get out there and vote, it’s never been more important,” Butler comments in the footage.

The frontman confirmed the news back in April, on his 40th birthday, that the band are working on a new album.

Butler said that he and wife/fellow band member Régine Chassagne “have been writing for the last couple of years.”

Arcade Fire were already a few months into recording new material when the Covid-19 outbreak hit.

“We had been exploring a lot of lyrical and musical themes that feel almost eerily related to what is happening now (we actually have a song called ‘Age of Anxiety’ written a year ago for Christ’s sake – ha ha ),” Butler explained. “Needless to say, the writing has intensified, and the work is flowing out… It is challenging as ever, and with just as much purpose.”

Watch Arcade Fire perform 'Generation A' on Election Night with Stephen Colbert below:

https://youtu.be/KvqNWYggnVA