With so much good music being released all the time, it can be hard to determine what to listen to first. Every week, Pitchfork offers a run-down of significant new releases available on streaming services. This week’s batch includes new albums from Arcade Fire, Bad Bunny, Sharon Van Etten, Ibeyi, Belle and Sebastian, Otoboke Beaver, and Maria Chiara Argirò. Subscribe to Pitchfork’s New Music Friday newsletter to get our recommendations in your inbox every week. (All releases featured here are independently selected by our editors. When you buy something through our affiliate links, however, Pitchfork earns an affiliate commission.)
Arcade Fire: WE [Columbia]
After revealing that new work was underway on a new Arcade Fire record during the pandemic, the band made good on the promise with “The Lightning I, II” in March, announcing its sixth album WE with the single. Arcade Fire also released “Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)” from the album ahead of its release. WE is Arcade Fire’s final album with Will Butler, who announced his departure from the group just two days after the arrival of “The Lightning I, II.” Read Sam Sodomsky’s review of WE, which he describes as “an album that reclaims the band’s trademarks after a decade spent fighting against them.”
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