Pitchfork

In a recent interview with us about the recent Arcade Fire concert film Mirror Noir, Win Butler described his band's current mindset thusly: "We have no idea what we're doing, but I feel like playing with you this afternoon, so how about we have some tea and play songs for a little bit." Quaint! So while the official next Arcade Fire album may be a ways off, new music from the crew is imminent.

Butler, Regine Chassagne, and Final Fantasy's Owen Pallett have finished their "Hitchockian" instrumentals for Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly's upcoming film The Box. The movie stars Frank Langella as a creepy weirdo (shocker) who convinces Cameron Diaz's character to press a button on a box-- which grants her $1 million but also kills a random person. In an MTV.com interview, Kelly describes the music as "very lush, and kind of a very bombastic, emotional score." MTV.com reports, "they recorded 80 minutes of original music with a full orchestra, including strings, brass and a rich, polyphonic keyboard called a Mellotron. Singer Régine Chassagne contributed vocal elements to the score."

Sounds like Arcade Fire to us. IMDb says The Box is due in theaters November 6, and Kelly mentions that it's very possible that the score will be available as a separate release.

And, oh yeah, the band opened for Jay-Z at last night's inaugural event for Obama campaign staffers. If this bill is any sort of cosmic indication of Obama's future, he should solve the economic crisis in about four days. Seriously: Jay-Z and Arcade Fire back-to-back, playing in honor of something truly great. Did Win and Jay talk about making music with their wives? Win's staunch support of The Blueprint 2? The weather? Please say it was the weather!

Unfortunately, we weren't there. But ace concert photog and Obama staffer Bao Nguyen was-- read his report and check out photos and the setlist on BrooklynVegan. (Yes, Arcade Fire did "Born in the U.S.A." No, Bruce didn't come out.)