Arcade Fire Tell Fans to Expect 12" Release in Coming Weeks

Arcade Fire delivered a handwritten note via the Web yesterday announcing good news for fans patiently awaiting the follow-up to 2007's Neon Bible. The short missive, addressed to "The Internet," reads simply, "Howdy yall — Just finishing up pressing our 12". Should be in stores in the next couple weeks, God willing. Good luck with finals, see you this Summer! AF." The faded postcard on the Arcade Fire site features a photo of the Montreal collective silhouetted in front of a pair of suburban homes, which further plays into the rumored "suburb" theme of their upcoming album.

No specifics about the 12" were revealed — and since both albums and singles are pressed on 12" vinyl, fans can't be sure what to expect from the mysterious Win Butler — but according to an Amazon preorder page, Arcade Fire will release a new single called "Suburbs," backed by another new track titled "Month of May," on June 1st. The band has yet to confirm that release.

As Rolling Stone previously reported, Arcade Fire and director Spike Jonze recently teamed up for a short film about teenage friends growing apart. An unspecified track off the third Arcade Fire album will likely provide the backdrop for the video, which was shot in Austin. Arcade Fire have also begun mapping out their summer plans with a dozen concert dates, but so far only one U.S. show: A headlining slot at this year's Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago on August 8th.

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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