Arcade Fire’s Church-Based Album

A church theme abounds — not surprising given where it was recorded. The band played many of their warmup gigs in their church-turned studio last month, and some of the album’s songs feature pipe organs.

“There’s definitely a sense of church in the record,” said Kingsbury. “The album you can kind of take from it what you like, really.”

Added Gara: “Us recording in a church, we had an idea for the pipe organ before that even happened. But Win and Regine, when I first met them, were always talking about if we could ever live in a church that’d be amazing. It’s meant to be a place of community and of that special something that is intangible — spirituality, openness — and you’re really just supposed to feel things, whether it be music, whether it be performance or your faith. I mean, it definitely penetrated the sound of the album.”