As soon as we saw the cover art for the new Arcade Fire album, titled The Suburbs, images of various gated communities in South Florida started dancing through our head. After snooping around on designer Caroline Robert's official site, we discover that photographer Gabriel Jones took the pictures "during a roadtrip." UPDATED: We just heard back from Jones, who says: "Actually, Arcade Fire sent me to Texas to do this series. I tried to make it generic, to make make look like almost any suburbs in North America." So there you have it.
The release of the cover is part of an explosion of new stuff on the Arcade Fire's site today that includes the title track and "Month of May" hitting the web too. Stream and download MP3s of the two songs over here, and pick up the 12-inch single at select independent record stores. The album comes out August 3.
More promotional images that could very well be from somewhere in Wellington (but are actually in the Lone Star State) follow.