Open Your Heart or Die Trying is an ambient studio album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire, released on April 18, 2026. The album is a companion piece to the band's 2025 release Pink Elephant, reinterpreting the tracks as experimental ambient music.
The album was released as an exclusive for Record Store Day, and followed with a digital release on May 1, 2026.
Background On May 9, 2025, Arcade Fire released Pink Elephant, their first album since 2022, following a period of public scrutiny and misconduct allegations against Butler. The album was met with mixed reviews and failed to chart on the Billboard 200 in the United States. In September 2025, Butler and Chassagne separated after more than 20 years of marriage. Open your Heart or Die Trying was released several months later in April 2026.
Open your Heart or Die Trying is considered a companion album to Pink Elephant, released during a period of Arcade Fire that is regarded as "complicated" and creatively divisive. It is a "cinematic" ambient reinterpretation of Pink Elephant. The Facebook account for Arcade Fire described the release as a "sonic landscape, a score to a film that hasn’t been made yet".
Track listing
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