ALBUM REVIEW – “THE SUBURBS” BY ARCADE FIRE
Occasionally, when I’m not rocking out to AC/DC, I look around and realise that there’s more to life than three-chord, blues based hard rock. There are also bands that don’t seem to conform to any particular genre, bands that invade our collective consciousness through their sheer force of creativity – their sounds so fresh and untainted by record executives and accountants – bands like the Pixies, The Cure, Nirvana, the Velvet Underground and the Ramones.
Nearly all groups start out dreaming of making it big with music as pure as this. It happens extremely rarely though. They are forever getting signed on the condition that they drop their drummer, change their name, re-write their songs or basically do what ever they’re told in exchange for a record deal. On a good day, popular music is a world of compromise. On a bad day it’s a world of selling your soul to the devil.
Arcade Fire’s new album – “The Suburbs”
Occasionally though, you get these groups that sprout up, seemingly from nowhere. They start out in small, obscure towns and develop a following – a small group of devoted fans that realise they’ve got something special to call their own. Sometimes a “scene” emerges and other bands join in, making music in the same spirit as their counterparts. But there’s always one group that truly defines them all.
By the time the record companies cotton on, the groups in question are way past the point of being told what to do. You think the Ramones were open to suggestions? They’d basically invented their own style of music which people were already religiously devoted to.
And so, we have albums like the Pixies’ Surfer Rosa with tracks like “Where is My Mind?” proving that while the world isn’t perfect, it does have its moments.
The song “Wake Up” from Arcade Fire’s album “Funeral” is up there. “No Cars Go” from Neon Bible is another one. Like all the groups mentioned above, Arcade Fire don’t sound like anyone else. Their songs are epic and exuberant, yet the lyrics are confessional and intimate. There’s nothing restrained about their performances either, it’s like: grab the nearest instrument and play it until it falls apart.
That “difficult second album” syndrome that affects so many lauded bands (the Killers?) did not apply to Arcade Fire. The third album doesn’t flinch either.
The Suburbs is like an observation of the world that suburban kids grow up in. (Rock n’ Roll 101: rock music was invented as a means of rebelling against the mundanity of suburban living) The title track has lyrics like, “All the houses they built in the 70’s finally fall; it meant nothing at all.” So, basically that world that Kevin Arnold grew up in in the Wonder Years doesn’t exist anymore. But don’t worry Kevin, Arcade Fire are here to help.
This band isn’t wallowing in self-imposed alienation or peddling misery to emo-kids. If anything, it’s telling those negative types to snap out of it. Check out this lyric in the song Month of May:
The kids are all standing with their arms folded tight…
Well I know it’s heavy, I know it ain’t light,
But how you gonna lift it with your arms folded tight?
At the same time as telling the world to let go, The Suburbs feels a little more studied, more crafted than the previous two. It all fits together to form a complete album that you can put on and leave on for days. You won’t necessarily be skipping forward to your favourite tracks. It’s crazy for me to try and intellectualise this music. It’s too overflowing with awesomeness for that. These guys have an over abundance of inspiration and imagination and I urge you to get this album and play it repeatedly – for your own sanity!
*Check out their new music video which is taking the internet by storm here.
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6 Comments
Splattermail
03 Sep 2010
Three perfect albums in three attempts and easily one of the best live acts in the world today. They’ve already done enough to go down as one of the greatest bands in history. Seriously bleak I’ll be back in SA before their UK tour in December.
“Suburban War” for my money is the pick of the new album.
miki
03 Sep 2010
can’t believe you have not linked to the ultimate music video from Arcade fire. Mind blowing HTML5
best viewed in google chrome
http://thewildernessdowntown.com/
THE RCM
03 Sep 2010
Great article, had this on my stereo for the last month non stop!
andrew
03 Sep 2010
search for their unstaged videos on youtube to get an idea of their live performances – here’s sprawl II – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L6ZFhZVOx0
deejay
04 Sep 2010
While I really like The Suburbs, I thought it was “less good” than Funeral and Neon Bible. Where are the xylophones/metallophones/glockenspiels/organs etc? Still, along with Pixies, Led Zep etc one of the greatest bands ever. Canada seem to be rocking – check out Black Mountain, Alexisonfire and The Pink Mountaintops as well…
RM
05 Sep 2010
Great article G-man.
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