Arcade Fire Preview "The Suburbs," "Month of May" Online

With Arcade Fire's first single off their upcoming third album reportedly due out around June 1st, the Montreal collective have offered up a pair of 30-second samples of new music. On their official website today, the band unveiled a digital 12" titled "The Suburbs" / "Month of May." "Suburbs" starts mysteriously: it kicks off with some acoustic guitar strumming and bouncy piano chords before cutting off into an ominous organ-sounding drone. It's not until the flip side, "Month of May," that you can finally hear Win Butler's voice singing over a hard-charging, bluesy guitar riff that evokes TV on the Radio's "Wolf Like Me." "Gonna make a record in the month of May," Butler sings.

As Rolling Stone previously reported, Arcade Fire placed a handwritten postcard on their official website earlier this week alerting fans that their 12" single was pressed and would be available in stores within the next few weeks. While the band didn't reveal the name of the prospective single at the time, an Amazon page hinted that the single would feature "The Suburbs" and "Month of May" — a suggestion that was proven true with the arrival of today's 30-second clips. Amazon lists the release date of the 12" as June 1st. Director Spike Jonze has been reportedly working on a video to accompany the forthcoming single. And while it's not clear what song the clip will accompany, Jonze shot footage in Austin, Texas last month with a cast of teenagers.

No release date has been announced for Arcade Fire's third, still-untitled album. The band currently has one U.S. concert scheduled for this summer: a headlining slot in Chicago for Lollapalooza.

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Song Stories

“Is It True”

Brenda Lee | 1964

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."

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