Arcade Fire Unleash New Pair of 'Suburbs' Tracks

Arcade Fire gave fans another sneak preview of their upcoming album The Suburbs today as two new singles from the Montreal collective's third LP hit radio. "Ready to Start," reportedly the next U.S. single following the double A side "The Suburbs"/"Month of May," premiered on Seattle's 107.7 the End, while potential U.K. single "We Used to Wait" debuted on Zane Lowe's BBC show. Check out Consequence of Sound to stream both new tracks, which Rolling Stone first heard live when Arcade Fire returned to the stage at Sherbrooke, Quebec's Granada Theatre last week.

Like their predecessors, both "Ready to Start" and "We Used to Wait" seem to capture Win Butler's nostalgia about growing up in Dallas, Texas suburbs. "Ready to Start" recalls the propulsive "Month of May," riding a driving bass line topped by spiraling guitars as Butler sings, "Now you're knocking on my door, saying please come out with us tonight, but I would rather be alone than pretend I feel all right." "We Used to Wait" teeters on a single piano note until Arcade Fire begin to pile instruments onto the mix before the track's fist-pumping chorus. "Now our lives are changing fast, hope that something pure can last. We used to wait for it, now we scream and sing the chorus again," Butler sings in another nostalgic moment.

As Rolling Stone previously reported, The Suburbs arrives August 3rd and will be supported by a tour that'll find Win Butler and company headlining Lollapalooza and top-billing venues like New York's Madison Square Garden. The Suburbs is available for preorder now through the band's official site, where you can also listen to "The Suburbs" and "Month of May." (Click here for the RS review of both tracks.)

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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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