Arcade Fire Fight for the Future With New Song ‘Generation A’

Arcade Fire debuted a new song, “Generation A” on The Late Show’s special live election night coverage Tuesday, November 3rd.

Stephen Colbert introduced the track by describing it as “inspired by the current climate of the country with a hopeful message to the youths,” and, to that end, the clip Arcade Fire shared opened with a young kid walking into a studio and bellowing into a microphone, “This is generation A! And we’re not gonna wait!” The track itself boasts a buzzing lead guitar riff, a thumping beat, some dance-y synth flourishes, and, in classic Arcade Fire style, an instantly shout-able hook, “I can’t wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait/Too little too late!”

“Generation A” marks Arcade Fire’s first bit of new music since the release of their 2017 album, Everything Now (although in 2019 they did release a cover of “Baby Mine” for Disney’s live-action remake of Dumbo). Back in April, Win Butler shared a bit of an update on the band’s next album, posting a letter on Instagram that said writing had picked up during the Covid-19 lockdown, and offering the vague timetable for a release as “eventually, not soon.”

Various Arcade Fire members have been busy with solo projects recently, too. In September, Will Butler released his third solo album, Generations, while that same month Richard Reed Parry shared his debut film score as a solo composer for the Jude Law film The Nest.