Arcade Fire demand more in ‘Everything Now’

Arcade Fire are back – and what’s more, they’ve returned with something suitably different and disco-infused in their new single ‘Everything Now’.

Released in tandem with the announcement of their upcoming album of the same name and a supporting tour, the track marks their first release since standalone protest song ‘I Give You Power’ at the top end of the year.

Interestingly, what can immediately be heard is a different range of influences than what we have perhaps come to expect previously from the Canadian indie luminaries, with certain echoes of ABBA being clear in the driving ’70s beat that carries the vocals of Win Butler and Régine Chassagne.

If you’re searching for it, too, there’s also traces of the likes of Talking Heads in the overall full-bodied poppy jauntyness of it all, and the sense of a misleadingly upbeat feel masking the darker content of the lyrics.

That isn’t to say, however, that this is some tired simulacrum of a bygone era; the production (with Pulp’s Steve Mackey on board) and instrumentation establish this a firmly modern affair, with intricacies abounding in the planting of violin and flute pieces throughout the track.

The song itself is, as suggested by the title, a reflection on the world of instant gratification delivered by today’s technology, and the sense of immediacy is conveyed rather well in the way in which Win litters the refrain with demands of ‘I want it’ and ‘I need it’, supported in grandiose chanting in the background of ‘everything now’.

Its statement is an inescapably potent one, and also dressed-up far better than the anti-Trump message we heard in their prior release; it could even, depending on which side of the fence you find yourself on in regards to 2013’s Reflektor, be seen as a return to form.

Indeed, if the general fan reaction to this one is anything to go by then this one could already be regarded as being up there with their best; whether the rest of the LP will similarly impress, though, remains to be seen – guess that’s one case where we don’t quite have everything now.

Arcade Fire’s fourth studio album, ‘Everything Now’, will be released on 28th July.