Arcade Fire- The Suburbs

Arcade Fire- The Suburbs
Rating: 7.6/10

I really shouldn't have to mention Funeral at this point. After all, it's been six long, frigid winters since Win Butler & Co. unleashed the innermost depths of their musical spirit. It succeeded in showcasing their natural ability to translate the raw emotions of despair, love, childhood nostalgia, grief, and hope into ten unrestrained heart-wrenching tales that are equally haunting, abstract, and beautiful. It seems they created this work, not for their desire to affect the listener or even for career advancement, but rather as a coping mechanism. As a result, never before has any band sounded so vulnerable on record.

Though Neon Bible lacked that endearing vulnerability (most likely due to the ego-boost of Funeral's praise), it still showed signs of promise. But even Neon Bible's strongest points couldn't hide that Win Butler had seemingly run out of engrossing stories of personal affliction. We found Butler revisiting the themes of religion, war, and the ocean without having much to say about them. Instead, he resorted to a form of stream-of-conscious imagery, while attempting to disguise it as authentic emotional distress. In building on their sound, they did just that; adding layers upon layers of instruments, occasionally resulting in the overblown sound of a band that's trying a little too hard. While most tracks on Funeral open with melodic hooks until they crescendo into an even-more-melodic wall of sound, too many tracks on Neon Bible start out in full-sprint, allowing nothing new to present itself. This results in some songs feeling dull at times.

So, what about the new album?-- well, it seems to take all those negative qualities of their last release and mold them into a high-handed concept album, which wouldn't be nearly as bad if the album's basis was interesting or original. But an entire album devoted to the suburban experience and the lifestyle that supplements it? I think I'll sit this one out, guys.

"In the suburbs, I learned to drive/And you told me you'd never survive."

Seems a bit extreme, doesn't it? It's the opening line and lyrical motif of the album (and later revisited on "Suburban War"). But, I guess he's right; those kids of middle-class income families have it pretty rough with their four bedroom houses and neighborhood friends who all live within biking distance-- I was one of them. And not a day goes by that I don't stop and ask myself "how did I survive?"

Only this is reality, and the reality is that Arcade Fire have an undying weakness for melodrama. In this case, taking something as overtly ordinary as suburbia and turning it into a hectic battlefield replete with dozens of lifeless bodies and an underlying theme of injustice. As exciting as that sounds, it's actually better than it looks on paper. That is to say, there are some good tunes on here. Musically, the band is going for the following:

"Arcade Fire delve into hints of electronica, but are still ultimately the same band."

The only problem is, this isn't entirely true. Yes, their use of digital sequencers might come as a shock to those who expect the analogue foundation on which the band established itself. But as it turns out, its use is spare, refined, and an overall positive addition the band's sound, adding a dimension no other instrument could have revealed. Rather, it's the rest of the instrumentation that falls short. With Neon Bible somewhat lacking in appropriate orchestration (I originally accredited this to Owen Pallett's absence), this album proves their string section's effectiveness is in gradual decline. Even with Pallett on board, I've yet to find a violin line half as striking as that on "Crown Of Love", or a string arrangement that should breathe the same air as "Wake Up" or "Rebellion". It's simply nowhere to be found.

Clocking in at over an hour, The Suburbs is by far the band's most guitar-driven album, which is by no means a criticism. "Modern Man" utilizes its palm-muted rhythm guitar perfectly, adding chiming guitar licks to the background mix. While "Empty Room" opens with one of the albums most inventive string sections (second only to the ethereal Half Light I), it's Regine's soaring vocals that establishes it as the album's most compelling cut yet. But as soon as you expect the song to take off into the heavens, it slowly fades out, leaving the listener to only assume the band was too lazy to write an appropriate bridge. Which brings me to another issue I had with this album-- about halfway through my first full listen, my collective focus drew away from the band's sound and songwriting and toward an unexpected factor that quickly became all I could think about:

Damn, this album has a lot of fade-outs!

By the album's end, it's unnerving, really (7 of 16--almost half!). I'm not against the concept of a recording ending by gradually diminishing in volume, because if done correctly, it can achieve the enlightening effect of endlessness or inevitability. But at a certain point, you can't help but think that the band simply had no creative ideas regarding how to end the songs. Album highlight is the closing "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" where we find Regine taking the lead behind an electronic dance beat and atmosphere akin to Blondie's "Heart of Glass" while pulsating synth lines cascade throughout the track. She belts the rippling chorus like it's her destined swan song:

"Living in the sprawl/dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains/and there's no end in sight/I need the darkness someone please cut the lights".

With its digital aspects front-and-center, this track could be squeezed onto the Magnetic Fields' Holiday and fit perfectly. The album ends in a whimper as Win Butler and a string quartet lament a brief, anti-climactic reprise of the opening track. This seems like a missed opportunity, as it undoubtedly would have worked better as an instrumental piece. Instead they close the album with harmonizing whispers before its inevitable fade-out.

There's no hiding it. This is Arcade Fire's weakest release yet and while it may work well as a cohesive whole, it's too long and the sum of its parts sadly don't create too rewarding of an experience. In my opinion, except to torment or drain the listener, there's no reason for the dismal "Sprawl (Flatland)" or even the lagging "Suburban War", with its half-hearted tempo change that never really takes off. In addition, decent songs like "Month of May" and "Rococo" offer little payoff when translated to the record, leaving only the arrangements to blame. Perhaps if they had chosen only ten or eleven of the best tracks and reordered them to work, this review would have taken an entirely different tone, which brings us to an important question: should an album with an excess of material not be as well-regarded as one of restraint and brevity? The real answer is contingent on how you perceive the studio album.

• -The LP is the most important artistic statement a musician can make and can only be judged as a whole. All tracks should flow together, creating a clear and concise experience devoid of any filler.
• -I rarely have the patience to sit through an entire album, so instead I judge it based on its best songs. When artists leave the less accessible cuts off, I'm only being deprived of material that I could possibly warm up to in the future.

Both points are valid. In a way, hitting the skip button while listening to an album is equivalent to ignoring the unattractive smudge on a painting or skipping the boring scene of a movie. On the other hand, what would the White Album have been had the Beatles only released the better half of its material? The subjectivity makes it difficult to assess, but what's apparent is that The Suburbs is far from perfect. It introduces a band undergoing a serious transition, struggling to find and reestablish their new sound, which generally forgoes the hard-hitting drums and instrumental hooks in favor of a more atmospheric, jam-band sound. It also indicates a desire to bypass the less common instruments that helped define their earlier music, like the accordion and glockenspiel. In the end, Arcade Fire took a chance that didn't quite pay off like we had hoped but, despite its flaws, it's a pretty solid album. The lyrics match that of Neon Bible but the message is more hopeful. According to the band, society is missing its heart completely and while retrieving it may be the objective, the most important thing is to stay strong and keep up the pursuit.

(Continue with more Funeral comparisons until fade-out.)

--Jon Manning

Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)

We Used To Wait