In advance of what will inevitably be one of the albums of the year, the Arcade Fire leaked this week the first single from their upcoming album The Suburbs, due in early August. Of course, this is an event: Arcade Fire have become the gold standard for maintaining both indie cred and actual popularity—finally, Gen Y has its own U2 (if not the Clash)!

So how is the new Arcade Fire single? Great, per usual. The putative a-side, if such a thing still existed, is the album’s title track, and it’s a vintage, stately Arcade Fire jam: meaningful, immaculately produced, an instant classic. For us, however, the surprise is the b-side, “Month of May”: its got an insistent motorik beat that also evokes the minimalist thrum of Suicide (cool reference of the moment, thanks to M.I.A’s sampling of Suicide in “Born Free”) and the driving soundscapes of Primal Scream. As this single makes clear, however, we need all the colors that Arcade Fire is willing to reveal. It’s going to be a good summer….