Arcade Fire began recording with what would become "Black Mirror" and a reworking of the "Arcade Fire" EP song "No Cars Go" as their starting point. Once the title of the album was decided upon, the band was further inspired after they, according to Will Butler, "watched a lot of TV preachers, get-rich-quick schemes on YouTube." The band was also attracted to using the ocean and television as central images for the album, with Win Butler saying the ocean imagery symbolizes a lack of control; of television, Butler stated that: