BY HUNTER CHRISTIAN
In the suburbs I...I learned to drive...
In 2004, a little band by the name of Arcade Fire released a little record by the name of "Funeral", a dark and hauntingly emotional meditation on life, death, and moving on, inspired by the passing of several of the band's family members. Three years later, after "Funeral" was proclaimed one of the greatest rock albums of all time almost unanimously by fans and critics, they released their sequel, "Neon Bible". While not quite matching up to Funeral's emotional mastery, the album, whose themes consisted of social out-lashing and political statements instead of death and loneliness, was still met with universal acclaim. Now, another three years later, arguably the most famous band in the independent music industry returns with their third LP, "The Suburbs". Question is, when does the slump come? Now? How do you follow up two massively successful records with expectations sky high? An even better question, is it possible?
According to Arcade Fire, hell yeah. Making a leap from their original 10-11 song structure to an album consisting of 16 songs, AF once again reaches for the stars, and their ambition plows through with epic force. Returning to some of the themes from Funeral such as loneliness and repression, the band still manages to create and album that feels like them and at the same time something totally new.
The Breakdown:
The album begins with "The Suburbs", a darkly hypnotic yet simple chord-riff of a song, which was also the record's first single. While the tune is immediate, it takes a while to fully grasp; but once it takes hold of you, it will haunt you and not let go.
We then fade into track 2, "Ready to Start", one of the highlights of the album. The song moves at a steady pace with an irresistible beat, soaring into a beautiful chorus by frontman Win Butler backed up by backup singer Regine Chassagne.
"Modern Man" is next, a simple yet gorgeous motion on living in our world and facing the failures of life. The pretty chorus is one of the high points of the album.
"Rococco" slows things down a bit, not quite as catchy or haunting as the record's first three tracks, but definitely an interesting listen, with a chorus consisting of vocal experiments with the title word.
"Empty Room" is short and fast, in fact the shortest song on the album besides the outro, and carries an explosive anxiety to it. The beginning rush of violins will catch you right off the start.
Next is "City of Children", for me the low point of the record. It's based in an interesting and well-paced riff - and keep in mind the low point on this album is hardly a "low point" - but at a 16-track length, if one song had to be let go, this one just doesn't have the energy or magic of most of the rest.
We then move into one of the album's two-part tracks, "Half Light I", a gorgeous, ambitious, and epic track with a pulsating heart and beautiful vocals, putting it at one of the best on the album. Part 2, "Half Light II (No Celebration)", however, loses much of the steam of it's predecessor, and while carrying a great chorus and full of energy, definitely could have been cut down from its 4 minute-27 second running time.
Up next is "Suburban War", a gentle meditation on the anxiety of youth, carried by a beautifully quiet and simple guitar riff.
If upon reaching track 10 you're beginning to run out of steam, the album's other single released with The Suburbs, "Month of May", will wake you the hell up. Moving quicker and with more edgy flare than anything Arcade Fire has ever written, this rocky punk anthem explodes with energy and is a total blast - a refreshing shake up to mix the genre around. As a single, the song loudly proclaimed that Arcade Fire was back, and taking fuckin' names.
Things then slow down again as we move into "Wasted Hours", a gentle and pretty song that even continues the lyrics of Month of May - "we're still driving around and around" (this repetition of theme and continuation of lyrics happens frequently throughout the album and adds a touch of magic to its concept and ensuing effect). While the song is nice to listen to on its own, being track 11 of 16, it will definitely have you questioning its necessity on the album.
Without the followup track to Wasted Hours, "Deep Blue", this question may not sneak through, but Deep Blue is more of the same pretty quietness, only it does it better, with a subtle sadness to it's edgy chorus.
"We Used to Wait" is next, another song released early by the band. The song takes a little too long during its buildup, but the payoff in the last half of the song or so is so vibrant and electric that you don't even care.
The album begins to reach its ending with the peak of the entire record: the second track pair, beginning with "Sprawl I (Flatland)". Sprawl I is a soft, haunting, tragic build, quietly sneaking into your soul and hypnotizing you, paralyzing your thoughts before rushing you into part 2, "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)". Sprawl II rings with 80's pop fuzz and techno rhythm, with Arcade Fire swirling in their own edgy influence. Alone, these two songs don't match the catchy rhythms or mind bending thematics of The Suburbs or Ready to Start, but combing as part I and II, the Sprawl pair caps the album's high point.
Finally we reach the closing, which may be my personal favorite part of the album: a slow, haunting, strung out, minute and a half reprise of the album's opener, "The Suburbs (continued)". It's tough to call it a stand alone song, since it really is just a continuation as its title states, but the way this gentle track hypnotically closes out the record leaves you so stunned and pinned to your seat that at that point the album's length doesn't even matter, you just can't help but think: wow.
Arcade Fire have yet again proved they're the best in the business by creating a third album that pulls off the impossible: being hugely ambitious and branching out from the sounds of the past two albums, while retaining the qualities we love about the band. It's not even the least of the three, soaring high above Neon Bible. It isn't perfect; not all of its songs match the grand scale or power of the others. The record's tragic flaw is that at 16 songs, it's definitely a long haul, yet none of the songs feel so unnecessary or bland that they could be removed; instead, perhaps a shortening of some of the lesser songs or combination of the best parts of them would have worked better. In the end, though, it doesn't really matter. The Suburbs rocks so hard that it puts most other modern bands to shame, and makes you forget the question of when Arcade Fire will slump and asks, when will they reach their peak?
While their worldview may be bleak, Arcade Fire pours more honesty into their music than any other band in the business, and asks you to dive into their emotions with them. What they create is so refreshing and universal, that there's nobody you'd rather get lost with.
9.6 /10 (Incredible)
-The Scale-
0: Failure
1: Horrendous
2: Awful
3: Terrible
4: Bad
5: Average
6: Passable
7: Good
8: Great
9: Excellent
9.5: Incredible
10: Classic
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