Arcade Fire will release their new album, ‘Pink Elephant’, on May 9.
Win Butler and Régine Chassagne of the Canadian indie band took to their fan club app to share the news that their follow-up to 2022’s ‘We’ will arrive next month, while sharing a radio mix and teasing the new song, ‘Year of the Snake’, which is available via the app (https://app.afcircleoftrust.com/arcade-fire/sign_up).
They said: “This is Win and Regime from Arcade Fire.
“Our new record is called ‘Pink Elephant’ and it’s out on May 9. Keep it here inside the Circle of Trust. Take care of each other.”
The pair continued: “Thank you for spending a little time with us – I know time is the one thing you can’t buy, so quit your job, call your best friend. It’s a season of change, and if you feel strange, it’s probably good.”
The LP reveal comes days after they shared the single and music video for the track ‘Cars And Telephones’ through the app on April 4.
It will mark the group’s first full-length release since Butler was accused of sexual misconduct by four people in summer 2022.
The 44-year-old singer was said to have behaved inappropriately between 2015 to 2020 when he was aged 34 to 39 and his alleged victims were between the ages of 18 and 23, but he insisted the encounters between them were consensual.
A gender-fluid individual who uses they/them pronouns told Pitchfork Butler had sexually assaulted them twice in 2015 when they were 21 years old, while three women told the outlet their encounters with the ‘Rebellion (Lies)’ hitmaker involved unwanted touching, kissing and photos of genitalia, and were “inappropriate given the gaps in age, power dynamics, and context in which they occurred.”
Butler issued a lengthy statement in which he told how he was going through a period of depression and drinking heavily at the time, but maintained the “relationships” were consensual and his wife, bandmate Chassagne, was aware of what happened.
He said in a statement: “I love Régine with all of my heart. We have been together for twenty years, she is my partner in music and in life, my soulmate and I am lucky and grateful to have her by my side. But at times, it has been difficult to balance being the father, husband, and bandmate that I want to be. Today I want to clear the air about my life, poor judgment, and mistakes I have made.
“I have had consensual relationships outside of my marriage.
“There is no easy way to say this, and the hardest thing I have ever done is having to share this with my son. The majority of these relationships were short lived, and my wife is aware – our marriage has, in the past, been more unconventional than some. I have connected with people in person, at shows, and through social media, and I have shared messages of which I am not proud. Most importantly, every single one of these interactions has been mutual and always between consenting adults. It is deeply revisionist, and frankly just wrong, for anyone to suggest otherwise.”