Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

2004 saw Arcade Fire emerge as indie juggernauts with their dazzling debut full length, Funeral.  The album’s sweeping chamber pop arrangements, vibrant choruses, and ability to convey a palpable emotion burned like an ember amongst the chilling themes of death, fear, and child-like awe that ran throughout the release.  The follow up, Neon Bible, found the ember extinguished.  Recorded in an old church in Quebec, the music gained a darker mood; underscored with more cynical and paranoid lyrics.  Conversely, their third full length, The Suburbs, with 16 tracks clocking in at over an hour in length, documents Arcade Fire’s spring thaw.  The spirit of the album is warmer and more freewheeling, the instrumentation is more varied and the results are still spectacular.

Inspired by growing up in suburban Texas, the album documents common suburban themes of boredom, urban sprawl, dissatisfaction and aging.  The Suburbs is overflowing with lyrical motifs wrapped around gorgeous vocal harmonies, presented in a sound that is more rock-based than anything the group has recorded before.

Opener “The Suburbs” is a piano driven foot-stomper rife with a world-weary analysis of life’s unflinching grind.  ”Kids want to be so hard, but in my mind we’re still screaming and running through the yard.  And all of the walls that they built in seventies finally fall,” notes Butler, before “moving past the feeling and into the night.”  ”Ready to Start” addresses the typical artist vs. record industry struggle (“Businessmen drink my blood just like the kids in art school said they would” ) while “Modern Man” tackles the gap between the promises of life and the underwhelming realities (“Maybe when you’re older you’ll understand why you don’t feel right, why you can’t sleep at night now”) over a muted rock n’ roll guitar riff.

The Suburbs length is a surprising departure from the normally concise tracklisting of the group’s releases, but it provides an opportunity for them to explore different styles throughout the album.   “Month of May” is a punk-ish tune addressed to the kids, while “Empty Room” is centered around a dizzying violin display and “Wasted Hours” has a down-home, folk feel to it, akin to Neil Young.  Electronic undertones and synthesizers help provide new textures to “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains),”  ”Deep Blue,” and “Half Light II (No Celebration),” a fruitful experimentation that shows Arcade Fire still have a few tricks up their sleeve.

With The Suburbs, Arcade Fire crafted a sprawling yet consistent album that doesn’t feel bloated or too indulgent.  Most of the songs aren’t the delicate indie-pop cuts found on Funeral, but this tinkering with their familiar formula (as effective as it was) makes The Suburbs an exciting, fresh listen that reveals new surprises with every spin.  Maybe the suburbs don’t suck so much after all.

4.6/5