Photo: wenn.com

Arcade Fire Tickets

It's been a rumour for a while now, but today Arcade Fire's manager Scott Rodger confirmed that the band were in the studio working on tracks with James Murphy.

In a four page interview with Music Week, Rodger said: "They're in with James Murphy on three or so songs, plus Markus Dravs who is a long-time collaborator.

"They write too many songs - that's a good problem to have. There's around 35 songs with Arcade Fire, two albums'-worth for sure."

There's still no word on when the band's fourth album will be released, but it's expected to arrive sometime late next year.

Last Saturday (December 1) the band played a secret show in Montreal under a different name.

The show at the Breakglass Studios, played under the name Les Identiks, was for just 100 people and was a chance for the band to test drive some of their new material.

Ostensibly the show was an opportunity to test which of their new material belongs on the new album and which should be left out.

According to the group's fansite Arcade Fire Tube the new songs were "generally described as fun, dance-y and groovy."

James Murphy's presence in the studio might go some way to explaining this.

The fansite wrote on Twitter: "New Songs: Heavy use of percussion/rhythm section/Only 1 slow song/1 punk rock-ish song/A 7-8 minute song opened the show."

Arcade Fire at Electric Picnic in Dublin

The band's drummer Jeremy Gara spoke to Ottawa radio station CKCU 93.1 in October and said the band were in the studio pretty much full time.

"We kind of shut the door. We haven't really gone out and done anything in over a year now.

"It's kind of coming along."

Below: the big albums of 2013 we're already excited about