18/03/07

THE ARCADE FIRE: New album released on 5th March 2007

Having tackled death in no uncertain fashion on their debut album Funeral, one might think that anything the Arcade Fire did subsequently would be a bit of a comedown. But this Montreal collective have set their sights on even bigger themes this time round – religion and impending doom stalk the album, and the mood is set with the thrilling opener Black Mirror. A modern nightmare of security cameras and pyramid schemes, where the self is swallowed into the all-consuming mirror and destruction is reflected back, it ends with the sound of a nuclear explosion. If anyone were ever foolish enough to attempt to remake nuclear holocaust drama Threads, then they would at least have a perfect soundtrack song here.

Apocalypse, and its aftermath, lurk around every corner: the flood in Windowsill; the “great black wave” in Black Wave/Bad Vibrations (death by water is another recurring theme); the violent city, abandoned by civilisation, in Oceans of Noise. Religion it seems offers little hope of salvation. “Not much chance for survival/If the Neon Bible is right”, suggests Win Butler on the title track, and indeed there’s a distinctly ambiguous attitude towards religion throughout this record, a stance that’s even more interesting when you consider that it was recorded in various churches. The thankless task of “working for the church while your family dies” described in Intervention raises questions in itself; but that’s before you get to the narrator of (Antichrist Television Blues), pleading to God to make his daughter a star (and a dubious sort of star at that: “I need you to get up for me, up on that stage/And show the men that you’re old for your age”).

Yet whilst religion appears to offer few crumbs of comfort – even on The Well and the Lighthouse, “the lions and the lambs aren’t sleeping yet” – there’s a sense that finding inner peace and spirituality may yet hold the key. The closing track, My Body Is a Cage, begins like a Negro spiritual, a haunting request for the soul to be set free from the shackles of the body, a request that builds up into a powerful entreaty suffused with love and loneliness.

Musically, the Arcade Fire have used Bruce Springsteen as their touchstone on Neon Bible. Indeed, the very title of the track Keep the Car Running has the Boss written all over it, as does the driving, searching rhythm (this is very much the Springsteen of Born to Run rather than Born in the USA). The piano part in (Antichrist Television Blues) and the struggling everyman narration of this and other songs also bear out this influence – yet on No Cars Go, the idea of a car as a ticket to freedom is rejected. Like God, Springsteen might be an inspiration on this album, but doesn’t mean to say he can’t be doubted.

One thing that definitely can’t be doubted, however, is that Montreal’s finest have produced another haunting, driving (and driven) record that somehow makes the greatest fears and neuroses of humanity not only very listenable – but also eminently danceable as well. The Arcade Fire’s world of black mirrors and black waves may not be comforting, but it’s undeniably compelling.

Review By Chris Wills
 

The full tracklisting is as follows;
1. Black Mirror
2. Keep The Car Running
3. Neon Bible
4. Intervention
5. Black Wave
6. Ocean of Noise
7. The Well and the Lighthouse
8. (Antichrist Television Blues)
9. Windowsill
10. No Cars Go
11. My Body Is A Cage

The Arcade Fire’s second album Neon Bible will be released on March 5th 2007, on the band’s own imprint Sonovox.

Recorded during 2006 in Quebec, New York, Budapest and London, Neon Bible is written, produced, arranged and performed by The Arcade Fire. The album is recorded by Markus Dravs (Eno) and Scott Colburn (Animal Collective) with orchestral arrangements by Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) and Regine Chassagne (The Arcade Fire).

A song from the album, Intervention is currently available for download for a limited time.