UPDATE: Seemingly in response to the leak, Arcade Fire are streaming Reflektor for free.
Oddly, Arcade Fire’s fourth album Reflektor went on sale yesterday at a single record store in Ireland — Rollercoaster Records on Kieran Street in Kilkenny, according to multiple reports. Oh, and possibly in the Czech Republic as well, according to one Twitter user abroad. Of course, that means that the music is now, as Arcade Fire Tube worded, “out in the free world,” and we know how the free world loves itself some free music.
Indeed, a version of the highly anticipated October 29 album has leaked according to Canada.com, though so far there are reports of the leak being incomplete or low-quality:
Fully aware #Reflektor leaked in not so good quality and missing minutes at the end of the last track.
— Arcade Fire tube (@ArcadeFiretube) October 24, 2013
So if you’re looking for a way to preview the songs that Arcade Fire has been previewing endlessly through a rather intense and Daft Punk-ish pre-release hype-cycle — and let’s face it, after all of those video snippets, and the cryptic graffiti, and the shows under fake names, who isn’t champing just a little bit — well, then you can find it out there somewhere on the Internet. Otherwise, you can wait until Monday when NPR will be streaming Reflektor in full.
Or you can always fly to Ireland. After all, they’ve got the happiest little record store in the world:
//www.youtube.com/embed/Iw5fpH6O2G4?rel=0