Last Friday, Arcade Fire released Pink Elephant, their first album since bandleader Win Butler was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple people in 2022.

Today on Commotion, host Elamin Abdelmahmoud speaks with music journalist Maura Johnston and Montreal Gazette reporter T'Cha Dunlevy about how their relationship with the band's music has changed after the allegations, and how the band's new record is being received by fans and media.

Elamin: Maura, what's your impression of this record?

Maura: There definitely feels like there's a black cloud hovering over it, even in those moments where the old Arcade Fire bravado breaks through. There are parts where it sounds somewhat tentative and sounds almost like licking wounds. But I think that the moments that I really liked are the ones where they get back into the groove mode that they had with Reflektor and with other songs. They're really good at riding that groove and they have been since their earliest records. But I do think that there is this free-floating malaise that's hanging over. I don't know if that's my projection onto it or if it's just the listening. But that's the thing about music, right? It's like, you're going to have those personal feelings, especially for any artist that you had a personal admiration for, those are going to shine through when you listen to their new material.

Elamin: Yeah, I had a hard time with the same thing that you're talking about.

On the one hand, you have Arcade Fire, obviously having taken this reputational hit. You're not going to find a single piece of writing that's talking about this album that's not talking about that story also. On the other hand, they were on SNL, they were reviewed by every major music publication, radio stations that have previously pulled their music, they're back to playing them. That includes the CBC, by the way. For a brief period of time after those accusations, CBC Music stopped playing Arcade Fire and then they resumed playing them. Toronto's Indie88 is playing them again. T'cha, what does the future of Arcade Fire look like?

T'cha: Well, judging by what we've seen so far with this album rollout and what's happened since the allegations, I think the future of Arcade Fire looks like what we've seen, in terms of the band keeping a much lower profile in the media. I think they're going to do less interviews, I think maybe they've decided it's about the music now, maybe Win and Régine [Chassagne, also in Arcade Fire] are focused on repairing their relationship — it seems like it. In the shows, they're smiling, they're letting loose, they're having fun, you can see they're trying to just do them, do the music, and focus on that. I think it seems to me that's what they're trying to do and will continue to do. They may do one or two very select bigger interviews at some point. Maybe they will even address the allegations. I think if they do, it might point towards a different future. I don't expect that though, at least not in a huge way. I think the band — it's 20 years in — has found a way forward and that's to just focus on the music. They have a fan base that they can rely on that will come out for these shows and they want to turn the conversation elsewhere.