Arcade Fire | Buy Reflektor October 29

“Afterlife,” Arcade Fire’s most recent preview track from their forthcoming album Reflektor, is dancey and depressing and haunting and catchy all in the same earful. It’s a whirling blender of emotion, morbidity and youthful hope in a way ever so characteristic of Win Butler and company. It seeks for the deeper meaning of life and fumbles desperately for a greater significance like a depressed teenager making sense of his suburban surroundings. While this might be true of almost all of their music up to this point, there is something almost foreign about “Afterlife”-otherworldly even.

The Canadian seven-piece is set to release Reflektor in a week and though they’ve provided their fan base with a slew of previews on television talkshows and the like, “Afterlife” and the title track are the only studio recorded songs to have been officially released thus far; sporting similar sentiments. They’re the kind of songs that make perfect sense if you don’t pay attention to the lyrics (which often contradict the bouncy and energetic melodies). Speaking of lyrics: lyrical master and recording genius James Murphy–the brain behind LCD Soundsystem–is confirmed to have produced three or more songs off the album. With so many great musical minds in collaboration, it’s almost as though Reflektor has no choice but to be a top contender for album of the year. Check the single “Reflektor” after the jump.