Arcade Fire will release their fourth studio album on October 29.

The band announced the release date on Twitter earlier today (July 12) in a pretty unusual fashion – in reply to a fan who had tweeted “you’re my favourite” at them.

The band Tweeted in response: “Thanks. Our new album will be out October 29th”.

It had previously been reported that the album, the band’s follow-up to 2010’s The Suburbs, would be released on September 9.

Last month (June), James Murphy, who is helping to produce the as-yet-untitled album, gave an update on its progress. “The album is going great. I’m too in the middle of it to know which way it will go in the end. But it’s going to be a fantastic record,” he told the Daily Star.

Murphy also clarified his contribution to the album, saying: “They are so good they could produce themselves, so my role in the band depends on the song. Sometimes I’m going around making suggestions and playing instruments, other times I’m just helping the arrangements. We feel like part of each other’s bands because we toured a lot together over the years.”

In an interview with MusicWeek late last year, the band’s manager Scott Rodger confirmed that Arcade Fire were going into the studio with Murphy to work on their fourth album. He said at the time: “They’re in with James Murphy on three or so songs, plus Markus Dravs who is a long-time collaborator. They write too many songs – that’s a good problem to have. There’s around 35 songs with Arcade Fire, two albums’-worth for sure.”