It wasn’t too long into 2020 that the term “quarantine record” cropped up to describe albums that were mostly concerned with loneliness, depression, and a sense of being closed off from the world—most of which were written long before “COVID” received its own prominent category on most news websites. While new, emotional releases from our favorite emotional songwriters have been a boon over the past year, Arcade Fire—who owe us a couple new albums at this point—took that idea to the next level with their first new recording since teaming up with Disney to make us cry.
Their new single (?) “Memories in the Age of Anxiety” isn’t just a 45-minute ambient instrumental cut—it’s a 45-minute ambient instrumental cut exclusively available on a meditation app called Headspace. The track feels well within the wheelhouse of the sound Arcade Fire have been cultivating over the past two decades (you can hear a presumably representational snippet of the recording on their Instagram post below), albeit, you know, very, very long and far from danceable. For all of us anxiety-riddled listeners anticipating the return to live music and our normal, relatively calm lives as we know them, this hits the spot.
Find more details (and wish Win Butler a belated happy birthday) on their IG post below.
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