Canadian indie rock giants Arcade Fire have spoken about the inspiration behind new album 'The Suburbs'.

Arcade Fire have a vast sound which seems to bring people together. Recently returning to Britain for a one off show in London, the band's euphoric sound resulted in a hugely memorable show.

Previewing their new album, material from 'The Suburbs' was rapturously received. Arcade Fire were on triumphant form, with the full studio effort due to be released later this summer.

Now the band have spoken about the inspiration behind the new release. Songwriter Win Butler explained to the NME that the new album was partially inspired by love letters from a teenage romance.

Referring to 'We Used To Wait' the frontman recalled a previous romantic liaison. "In high school I had a letter-writing romance with a girl," he said. "I was trying to remember that time… waiting an entire summer, pretty much half a year, the anxiousness of waiting for letters to arrive."

"All day every day there's almost this cloud of feeling hanging over everything. We'd be in Maine, I'd walk down to the post office and come back… the whole day was consumed by that feeling."

Elsewhere, the frontman praised his U2 counterpart Bono. The Irish singer has taken flak for his political ambitions, but Arcade Fire respect him for becoming involved. "As much as people slag Bono, I will forever give him credit for engaging with George W Bush when he was president," he said.

"Even though it was a deeply unpopular move, even in his own band. The HIV medications in Africa, every aspect of the US foreign policy – it was a hell of a lot more than any president before had done."

Click HERE to read our review of 'The Suburbs'!