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Arcade Fire Are Up to Something [UPDATE]

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performs onstage at the 2016 Panorama NYC Festival - Day 1 at Randall's Island on July 22, 2016 in New York City.

While it’s too soon to say for certain, it sure looks like Arcade Fire are about to launch a new single. Yesterday, the band announced two shows at London’s York Hall on July 4 and 5, and various Arcade Fire-related signals intelligence is sloshing around the ‘net. The first blip was a since-deleted tweet from a Vancouver radio station, 102.7 The Peak, promising new music this Friday, June 2:

Arcade Fire Coachella

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Also yesterday, well-recognized fan blog Arcade Fire tube shared short video clips featuring retro globe logos, the word “Now” and the initials “EN.” According to Arcade Fire tube, the clips were first tweeted to it from a Russian-language feed called @ArcadeFireTuba (ha), which used the display name “Sasha M” and a Star Wars stormtrooper icon. That Twitter account has since been suspended. (When reached for comment, a PR rep for Arcade Fire said, “No comment, sorry.”)

Meanwhile, a new Tumblr account, everything-now, popped up with identical globe imagery. So far, it’s posted one short video clip, tagged “#arcade fire” and “#everything now”:

https://everything-now.tumblr.com/post/161252971922

Overnight, two new “Now” posters were reported on social media, one in the band’s hometown of Montreal and one in London:

Meanwhile, Arcade Fire’s official Instagram has been wiped clean. A new mystery Twitter feed, @AF_0ff1c1al or “Masha S,” is retweeting clues under horizontally flipped versions of the “NOW” and stormtrooper graphics.

Earlier this month, Arcade Fire reportedly debuted new music at a secret, no-phones Montreal show, the sequel to another secret show in New Orleans in October 2016. Last week, a South African casting agency apparently leaked news of the band’s new music video when it publicly congratulated one of its child actors on winning a part.

In January, Arcade Fire released a new song, “I Give You Power,” featuring Mavis Staples. It was the first new music from the band since their most recent album, 2013’s Reflektor—until this week, probably.

Update (10:40 a.m. EDT):

Update 2 (11:30 EDT): Attendees have shared photos of new Arcade Fire merchandise for sale at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound Festival: A 12″ vinyl record called “Everything Now” and a t-shirt featuring 10 logos, including the “Everything Now” globe and the “Infinite Content” infinity sign.

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