Arcade Fire and Spike Jonze Mix Childhood and Violence in 'Suburbs' Video

Arcade Fire have reunited with visionary director Spike Jonze for production of their new music video 'The Suburbs.' The clip accompanies the band's forthcoming single, which is scheduled for release on Dec. 20.

Arcade Fire famously let Jonze use a new version of their hit song 'Wake Up' for the trailer of the 2009 movie 'Where the Wild Things Are,' and his treatment of 'The Suburbs' has maintained a similarly theatrical motif. The video was conceived as a "short film," as Jonze described it to MTV in Apri.

True to the vision, the video opens with a group of kids innocuously riding bikes and playing with BB guns in a cookie-cutter suburb. As the song progresses, reality begins to creep into the fenced community as national guardsmen raid homes and interrogate the children. The clip features a quintessential Jonze ending, leaving the viewer feeling lukewarm and introspective.

The video was shot in the suburbs of Austin, Texas, and was, according to Jonze's MTV interview, based on the concept of "friends growing apart."

Post-production, singer Win Butler told Pitchfork that "it was great just hanging out with these 15-year-olds for a week and writing down all the funny things they said. It was cool to revert to being a 15-year-old for a little while."