Arcade Fire-Neon Bible review
Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 6:47 amfrom the NY Times:
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: March 5, 2007
ARCADE FIRE
“Neon Bible”
(Merge)
"Neon Bible" by Arcade Fire.
Arcade Fire is like the band that kept playing as the Titanic sank. This Montreal post-punk group specializes in ecstatic refusal, an odd mix of despair, contempt and uplifting idealism. Rejecting the rock scene, it has created its own mini-utopia, where men wear suspenders and musicians are sincere and proudly nerdy. Arcade Fire is now one of the most revered indie acts around, thanks to “Funeral,” its hypnotically raging 2004 debut.
“Neon Bible,” the phenomenal follow-up, will challenge the band’s attempts to stay cult-size. It is regal and beautiful, with mournful anthems and bombastic orchestration that suits the urgency of the lyrics. At the very least this will be the most successful apocalyptic rock symphony ever recorded in a Canadian church. The album blasts life in the 21st-century West: consumerism, reality television, victim chic and the “holy war.” “Don’t wanna live in America no more,” sings Win Butler, the band’s Texas-raised frontman.
Arcade Fire mines classic U2 and Bruce Springsteen far better than the Killers recently did. And Arcade Fire didn’t lose its own voice in an attempt to sound bigger and grander. There are still plenty of its trademark noisy crescendos and old-fashioned accents like harp and hurdy-gurdy. “My Body Is a Cage” begins with a spare Appalachian melody, then shoots skyward with pipe organ and a gospel choir. “Set my spirit free,” Mr. Butler moans.
He wonders: How do you fill a spiritual void when you distrust organized religion? How do you escape fearsome times without wallowing in vacant escapism? He doesn’t have any answers and wastes energy on easy targets like MTV. But the shimmering music transforms bleakness into a “vial of hope,” and for now that’s enough. SIA MICHEL
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: March 5, 2007
ARCADE FIRE
“Neon Bible”
(Merge)
"Neon Bible" by Arcade Fire.
Arcade Fire is like the band that kept playing as the Titanic sank. This Montreal post-punk group specializes in ecstatic refusal, an odd mix of despair, contempt and uplifting idealism. Rejecting the rock scene, it has created its own mini-utopia, where men wear suspenders and musicians are sincere and proudly nerdy. Arcade Fire is now one of the most revered indie acts around, thanks to “Funeral,” its hypnotically raging 2004 debut.
“Neon Bible,” the phenomenal follow-up, will challenge the band’s attempts to stay cult-size. It is regal and beautiful, with mournful anthems and bombastic orchestration that suits the urgency of the lyrics. At the very least this will be the most successful apocalyptic rock symphony ever recorded in a Canadian church. The album blasts life in the 21st-century West: consumerism, reality television, victim chic and the “holy war.” “Don’t wanna live in America no more,” sings Win Butler, the band’s Texas-raised frontman.
Arcade Fire mines classic U2 and Bruce Springsteen far better than the Killers recently did. And Arcade Fire didn’t lose its own voice in an attempt to sound bigger and grander. There are still plenty of its trademark noisy crescendos and old-fashioned accents like harp and hurdy-gurdy. “My Body Is a Cage” begins with a spare Appalachian melody, then shoots skyward with pipe organ and a gospel choir. “Set my spirit free,” Mr. Butler moans.
He wonders: How do you fill a spiritual void when you distrust organized religion? How do you escape fearsome times without wallowing in vacant escapism? He doesn’t have any answers and wastes energy on easy targets like MTV. But the shimmering music transforms bleakness into a “vial of hope,” and for now that’s enough. SIA MICHEL