Pop Culture

Arcade Fire: The Suburbs

By Andy Frisk
February 21, 2011 - 20:06

For a band that at times, and sometimes simultaneously, sounds like a mixture of Bruce Springsteen, REM, Pete Yorn, and Neil Young with a hint of shoe gaze not unlike My Bloody Valentine sprinkled sparingly here and there, and utilizes a range of instruments from acoustic guitar to strings to pipe organs and everything in between on their albums, you’d think Arcade Fire would be either the most pretentious sounding band in the world or the most banal and generically repetitious band ever. Instead, they’re the type of band that you simply have to share the experience of with your music loving friends. With nary a hint of studio magic in sight, Arcade Fire creates an incredibly organic yet fresh sound. We’ve heard all of the aforementioned instruments used ad infinitum before, and sometimes together, but Arcade Fire creates something that is hauntingly beautiful, visceral, and universally appealing and relatable to all at the same time. In a world of music appreciation that relies upon quality of music made over quantity of albums sold, it would never have taken Arcade Fire until their third album to win an Album of the Year award.

Win one they did though for their third album, and late is better than never. Rising to near universal recognition when their first hit “Wake Up” was featured in the NFL’s commercial “Best Fans on the Planet,” it wouldn’t take long for the masses to be let in on the secret that was Arcade Fire. Personally, they became a group worthy of joining the list of relevant bands when I was floored by the track “Intervention” off their Neon Bible album. “Intervention” is a rapturously melancholy meditation on the evils of war, religion, and religious war. To me it was the bridge song that moved them from being a credible indie band to a musical literary movement. Their subsequent album The Suburbs is the culmination of all the brilliance that Arcade Fire displayed on their preceding two albums. The Suburbs is a consummate lit-rock album that plays like a contemporary alt rock musical interpretation of Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg Ohio (kind of like Green Day’s American Idiot was a contemporary punk musical interpretation of the same). This type of theme has been interpreted by hundreds of bands over the years and is nothing new or revolutionary. What is new and revolutionary is how Arcade Fire interprets the themes of suburban ennui, melancholy, and the magic and mystery that is growing up. “You grew your hair so I grew mine/You said the past won’t rest until we jump the fence and leave it behind…you cut your hair and I never saw you again…and now the cities we live in could be distant stars/now I search for you in every passing car…you started a war that we can’t win” No amount of teenage angst or rebellion against the placid (and often flaccid) suburban life can beat the lull of complacency that sets in when most of us reach middle age, put on a suit, and join the rat race. Again, this is no new territory for an indie rock (or any rock) band to cover. It is how Arcade Fire breathes new warmth into these themes with their unconventional songwriting and arrangements that sets them apart from their musical peers.

A worthy if surprising pick for the Album of The Year Grammy (are the Grammies trying to regain some cred or finally just realizing that sales don’t always equal the best or most artistic?), The Suburbs folds and unfolds upon itself thematically, lyrically, and musically without sounding repetitious (something that Green Day did fall a bit victim to on the aforementioned American Idiot). Again like Anderson's thematically linked short work, the themes and musical progressions of The Suburbs weave in, out, and around each other. “The Suburbs” and “The Suburbs (continued)” bookend the album thematically and musically with “Suburban War” serving as the climax to the entire musical tale. Win Butler nearly whispers in coda to his near wail at the outset “I’m moving past the feeling/In my dreams we’re still screaming/We’re still screaming” A fitting intro and outro to an album that screams and dreams unlike few others.

Rating: 10 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12