WE, the eagerly anticipated sixth studio album by Arcade Fire, has been confirmed for a May 6, 2022 release. WE’s arrival is preceded by the first single “The Lightning I, II,” available now across digital platforms – and as a video directed by Emily Kai Bock, which can be seen here.

Produced by Nigel Godrich, Win & Régine, and recorded in multiple locales including New Orleans, El Paso and Mount Desert Island, WE paradoxically distill “the longest we’ve ever spent writing, uninterrupted, probably ever” (per the band’s Win Butler) into a concise 40-minute epic – one 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. WE’s cathartic journey follows a definable arc from darkness into light over the course of seven songs divided into two distinct sides — Side “I” channeling the fear and loneliness of isolation, and Side “WE” expressing the joy and power of reconnection: