★★★★☆
Four Stars
Before I start this review we should get one thing straight, this album is a big deal. A very big deal. Arcade Fire are a huge name in independent music. Their debut album, Funeral, received the second largest number of inclusions in “top 10 albums of the noughties” lists of any album, being only narrowly beaten to number one by Radiohead’s seminal Kid A. There are a large number who even see them as this generation’s Radiohead. It is not too much of an overstatement to call this equivalent to a band in the 70s being touted as the Beatles of that generation. Such is the band’s eminence among music critics, hipsters and other followers of so-called ‘art rock’.
But on top of this it is also the first album James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem (“coolest man alive” according to a major music magazine) has produced since that band disbanded in early 2011. Ever since Arcade Fire appeared as surprise guests at his final Madison Square Garden concert, people have been dreaming of a collaboration between the two. And what has been the result of almost 3 years of extreme anticipation?
Well… profound uncertainty. Lyrically the album abounds with references to light, reflections, cameras; the possibility of confusing images for the things they represent. This is all couched in some kind of vaguely futuristic post-colonial context that’s made quite explicit in songs like ‘Flashbulb Eyes’ (“what if the camera really do take your Soul?”) and the persistent presence of what can only be described as ‘electro-bongo beats’. Perhaps as a result of this emphasis on uncertainty, the album feels less fulfilling than their previous work, The Suburbs, which was grounded in memories of their suburban childhoods.
The thematic vagueness means the songs just can’t reach the level of emotional heft of songs like ‘Suburban War’ and ‘Ready To Start’ on their last album. With the recent explosion of popular guitar bands all over the scene, Arcade Fire clearly realized they had a point to prove on this record. It’s a musically exciting and ambitious album, particularly in the title track and songs like ‘Porno’ and techno-orchestral lullaby ‘Supersymmetry’ but ultimately feels like more an experiment than a fully fledged artistic statement.
Track to download: Reflektor
