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Where the Indie Kids Are: Arcade Fire Scoring Spike Jonze’s ‘Her’ Film

Arcade Fire, Spike Jonze, 'Her,' Scarlett Johansson, Joaquin Phoenix, trailer, score

If a great cry just went out from Williamsburg to Silver Lake, it’s with good reason. The next movie from director Spike Jonze, Her, is packed with involvement from people you might like if you like Jonze. The first trailer for the movie, which you can watch above, reveals the film will have “Music by Arcade Fire.” The voice of Scarlett Johansson can be heard, playing an artificially intelligent system that forms a romance with a character played by actor and Pusha T beat maker Joaquin Phoenix. Chris Pratt, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, and Olivia Wilde also star in the film. A song by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It’s Blitz‘s “Skeletons,” soundtracks the trailer.

Jonze, the director of such artfully fantastical films as Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, is no Arcade Fire newbie. The fervent indie-rock band contributed a re-recorded version of their landmark 2004 debut Funerals “Wake Up” to a trailer for Jonze’s 2009 Where the Wild Things Are, and he directed the 2011 Arcade Fire short film Scenes From the Suburbs (available in the deluxe edition of 2010 album The Suburbs).  Arcade Fire’s previous film work includes contributing the foreboding “Horn of Plenty” to the score for The Hunger Games and shape-shifting “Abraham’s Daughter” to the movie’s soundtrack. 

Arcade Fire’s involvement with Jonze’s latest adds to an already big year for the group. They’re set to release a new album, possibly titled Reflektor, on October 29 via Merge. They’re covering Peter Gabriel for an upcoming compilation. And looking forward into 2014, they’ll be playing at least a handful of live dates: Arcade Fire are co-headlining Australia and New Zealand’s multi-city Big Day Out Festival with Pearl Jam and Blur.