Hey! Arcade Fire just wrote an album about my neighbourhood in Nova Scotia. They also wrote an album about my friend’s neigbourhood in Australia. They also wrote about my friend’s neigbourhood in Texas. With the Suburbs, Arcade Fire have delivered an album that is easy to relate to. The past few decades have seen a shift from the rural to the urban, and in particular the urban sprawl a.k.a. “The Suburbs”. This album is as much reality as it is science fiction. The full album has an overarching theme throughout. Just listen for how many times “the kids” or “the suburbs” are referenced from the beginning to the end of the album. While this theme is not necessarily particularly exciting, in fact it is quite dreary, it is a theme that is easy to relate to. Remarkably the band has been able to perfectly capture the feeling of suburban life on an album in an exciting way.
It’s no secret that this album was heavily anticipated. The band essentially disappeared for a long period of time once the Neon Bible tour was finished up with. The hype machine went into full force in the spring when they announced they would be releasing a new album called “The Suburbs”. Both fans and critics were anxious to see what the band would do with the dreaded third full length album that can either solidify a band’s stature as the real deal or expose a band as a one trick pony running out of steam. They set the bar extremely high with their previous releases of Funeral and Neon Bible. While it may be too early to say for sure how it ranks in relation to their other albums, it definitely does not disappoint.
Coming in at 16 tracks, it is their longest release. In regards to the length of the album, Will Butler said “If a year later you find We Used To Wait on the second half, and you’re like, what in the heck is this song, this is an amazing song, I think that is an equally valid way to experience the record” during a recent BBC Radio 1 podcast. The album was made to purposely bombard your sense with information that you can get lost in and find new things every listen. This depth and complexity ensures that this album is not just chaff that will be blown away in the wind and forgotten, but rather an album that can continually be explored and yield new discoveries every time. Fortunately with the exception of the middle of the album perhaps, this album does not have any fat that needs to be trimmed off. The sonic textures of this journey range from piano based songs such as “The Suburbs” to the Neil Youngesque “Wasted Hours” to the electro new wave sounds of Sprawl II. There is a much more electronica presence on the album due to Will Butler’s recent infatuation with analog synths. Regine Chassagne shines on this album providing her strongest vocals to date, in particular Sprawls II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) jumps to mind. Win Butler’s lyrics also are an outstanding feature of this album. Songs that otherwise may have been bland musically become vibrant due to his brilliant lyrics. Win’s vocals are also strong on this album, with his voice sounding more polished, but not in an overproduced way. The album also features some of the band’s best guitar work to date. Simpler songs such as “Modern Man”, “Wasted Hours”, and “Deep Blue” are stripped back enough allow the listener to focus on the guitar work. The only thing that this album lacks is a truly epic track. While Rococo is a grandiose track starting off slow that builds up and explodes into a chorus of Rococo Rococo, there are no tracks on The Suburbs that capture the feel of a track such as Wake Up or Power Out. The middle stretch from Empty Room to Half Light II (No Celebration) can also feel a little drawn out. While none of the songs are necessarily bad in that stretch, the problem more so lies in the fact there aren’t any definitive moments to capture the listeners attention.
The album had high anticipation, and it is safe to say that they have at least been met if not exceeded. While fans anticipating Funeral II or Neon Bible II may have been disappointed, there is no doubt that Arcade Fire still have a promising future ahead of them and have clearly found a sound that suits them perfectly.
Great review! Very well thought out and clear. You obviously have no trouble praising the good yet recognizing the lackluster. Keep it up!
P.S. Hell yah for the Texas shout out!