Song is latest from new album
Arcade Fire has officially released “Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)” as the second advanced offering from its forthcoming sixth studio album, We. The song was previewed at recent live surprise performances including New York’s Bowery Ballroom and Coachella’s Mojave Tent.
The track also appears on the second side of We — the half of the record that channels and revels in the power and joy of human (re)connection. The song’s lyrics find Arcade Fire’s Win Butler offering heartfelt advice and concern for coming generations in the face of myriad challenges of an uncertain future. The result is a buoyant chorus of optimism celebrating unconditional love as a seemingly unachievable ideal that occurs naturally and effortlessly with one’s children.
“There’s nothing saccharine about unconditional love in a world that is coming apart at the seams,” states Butler. “WE need each other, in all of our imperfection. ‘Lookout Kid’ is a reminder, a lullaby for the end times, sung to my son, but for everyone… Trust your heart, trust your mind, trust your body, trust your soul. Shit is going to get worse before it gets better, but it always gets better, and no one’s perfect. Let me say it again. No one’s perfect.”
Produced by Nigel Godrich, Win & Régine, and recorded in multiple locales including New Orleans, El Paso and Mount Desert Island, the project is due on CD and LP on May 6th via Columbia Records.
