"We Used to Wait" is the first UK single from

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member ...

's third album '' The Suburbs'', following "Ready to Start", which was the first US single. It was released on August 1, 2010 in the UK.

The Wilderness Downtown

The song was used in an experimental project, ''

The Wilderness Downtown "The Wilderness Downtown" is an interactive multimedia video coded in HTML5 and was published to show off the capabilities of the then new Google Chrome browser. Directed by music video director Chris Milk and involving the work of a number of Goo ...

'', an interactive music video developed by Google Creative Lab and

Chris Milk Chris Milk is an American entrepreneur, innovator, director, photographer, and immersive artist. He is co-founder and CEO of Within (Virtual Reality) (formerly Vrse), a virtual reality technology company, and co-founder of Here Be Dragons (for ...

, to experiment and exploit HTML 5 and the Google Chrome web browser. It figures prominently in the location-based audiovisual web experience and the name of the project is taken from a line in the song. Rolling Stone named the 'thewildernessdowntown.com' one of the best music videos of 2010. In July 2011, the music video was named one of "The 30 All-TIME Best Music Videos" by ''

TIME Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Ma ...

''. Viewers were invited to fill out a virtual postcard at the conclusion of the video and the postcards were used to populate background visual for "We Used to Wait" during the Suburbs tour. In February 2011, music video blog Yes, We've Got a Video! ranked the project at number 2 in their top 30 videos of 2010. The project was praised as a "beautiful experiment that has significantly pushed the boundaries of the music video by introducing the factor of interactivity."

Recording and production

Like the rest of the album, "We Used to Wait" was mixed through vintage analog consoles in Montreal and New York by Craig Silvey. In an interview with Paul Tingen, Silvey provided additional information on the challenges with "We Used to Wait"; he stated that the massive number of individual tracks on the premixed recording, over thirty, and elements like the use of three drum kits, was particularly challenging to mix because of the complexity of the textures.

Reception

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' named "We Used to Wait" the 5th best song of 2010. Not all reviews were positive: Pop Sugar's Thomas Britt stated the track was "mawkish" and "failed to take off." In 2017

Paste magazine ''Paste'' is a monthly music and entertainment digital magazine, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with studios in Atlanta and Manhattan, and owned by Paste Media Group. The magazine began as a website in 1998. It ran as a print publication fro ...

named it number eleven of the best fifteen Arcade Fire songs and name the song the lynchpin of the entire ''Suburbs'' album.

Covers

On 20 October 2010,

Mark Ronson Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. He is best known for his collaborations with artists such as Duran Duran, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, R ...

and Business Intl, featuring Alex Greenwald on both vocals and the mandolin, and Rose Dougall on backing vocals, covered the song on

Jo Whiley Johanne Whiley-Morton (born 4 July 1965), better known by her professional name Jo Whiley, is an English radio DJ and television presenter. She was the host of the long-running weekday later weekend '' Jo Whiley Show'' on BBC Radio 1. She curre ...

’s

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

show.

The Drums The Drums are an American indie pop band from New York City. Formation Founding members Jonathan (Jonny) Pierce and Jacob Graham became friends as children, having met at Bible camp at age 11 or 12. Some years later, they formed a short-lived ...

also covered this song.

Chart performance

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:We Used to Wait 2010 singles Arcade Fire songs Merge Records singles Songs written by William Butler (musician) Songs written by Win Butler Songs written by Régine Chassagne Songs written by Jeremy Gara Songs written by Tim Kingsbury Songs written by Richard Reed Parry 2010 songs Rough Trade Records singles