Arcade Fire

stream Arcade Fire's new song "I Give You Power" ft. Mavis Staples

Arcade Fire have been promising a new album for this year and now a new single is officially out. It’s called “I Give You Power” and it features soul legend Mavis Staples. It’s quite an appropriate inauguration eve song. Originally streaming exclusively on TIDAL, it’s now also on YouTube, and you can listen right HERE or below.

https://twitter.com/arcadefire/status/822181746535989249

https://twitter.com/arcadefire/status/822181813347090432

The timing of this song isn’t coincidental, and it wouldn’t be the first time Arcade Fire got involved in this election, or did something Obama related.

Meanwhile, Mavis Staples released her own excellent album in 2016 (it even won a Grammy). Produced by indie rock singer-songwriter great M Ward, it featured songs written by a who’s who of indie rock including Nick Cave, Neko Case, Ben Harper, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), tUnE-yArDs, and Valerie June. Mavis, who goes way back with Bob Dylan (as you can learn about in her documentary which is streaming on Netflix), worked with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy on her previous two records.

UPDATE: Win Butler talked about the song on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 show, and said, “It’s the eve of the inauguration and I think it’s easy to get sucked into sitting on the couch and checking your news feed and watching things on CNN, and we’re just musicians and the only thing we have to offer is our music. I talked to Mavis last night and she said, ‘Now more than ever we just need to hold onto each other.’ For us it’s a feeling of solidarity—to not feel powerless and focus on what we can do as individuals and try to do our part.”

Here’s the whole interview:

In related news, Sam Patch aka Arcade Fire’s Tim Kingsbury has a new album coming out and is touring. Arcade Fire drummer Jeremy Gara (who drums on the Sam Patch album) is also playing shows, including Big Ears Fest.

Still no details on album title, release date, etc, but Arcade Fire recently said their tour may start this April (and continue through April 2019). So far only European festivals have been announced, like Primavera Fest in Spain. Arcade Fire last played NYC at Panorama Fest in 2016.

Next week (1/27), they’re releasing a new double-disc DVD/blu-ray with a documentary on disc 1 and a live concert on disc 2.

And, in case it means anything, here’s their new Facebook profile picture:

Arcade Fire

Arcade Fire — 2017 Tour Dates
Jun 03 Primavera Sound Barcelona, Spain
Jun 10 Isle of Wight Festival Newport, United Kingdom
Jun 17 Best Kept Secret Festival Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands
Jun 19 INmusic Festival Zagreb, Croatia
Jun 24 Roskilde Festival Roskilde, Denmark
Jun 29 Rock Werchter Werchter, Belgium
Jul 09 Eurockéennes Festival Belfort, France
Jul 11 Ahoi! The Full Hit of Summer Linz, Austria
Jul 15 Vieilles Charrues Carhaix Plouguer, France