Originally appearing with different production and instrumentation on Arcade Fire’s 2003 self-titled EP, “No Cars Go” fits the rest of Neon Bible, where automobiles are a metonym for everything that’s wrong with civilization as we know it. As such, there’s no better time for a retrospective, so without further ado, here are the 10 best Arcade Fire songs. Now, with three magnum opuses under their belt, another album on the way, and a kid in their arms, Arcade Fire are safely ensconced on the indie-rock throne. With that album, they didn’t really hide a certain ambition to become the Bruce Springsteen of my generation. “Rococo,” such an accurate detail of an idea that it could only have come from real life). Arcade Fire tempered this thread on The Suburbs, which was also informed and personalized by Butler’s memories of growing up in Houston (e.g. Neon Bible was a tempestuous, occasionally overwrought affair that didn’t shy away from pointing out society’s economics- and politics-driven pitfalls. Payouts, bribes, and Mafia-style bullshit,” i.e., everything the band railed against in 2007’s Neon Bible.įor that record and for The Suburbs, which would pose another sellout challenge to the band in the form of a Grammy many thought they didn’t deserve, they bought a church to record in - the same church they are now trying to sell after downsizing to DFA’s studio in the West Village (needless to say, the sentimental value of materialism has never been important to them) - determined to separate themselves from the hype cycle that has destroyed other bands.Īnd they did, writing two LPs that evolved from the fiery baroque pop that catapulted Funeral to the top of everyone’s best-of-ever list. They remained with Merge even when offered unfathomable sums of money by major labels, stayed humble in the halo of attention from legends like David Bowie, Lou Reed, and Bono, and stubbornly refused to engage with radio stations’ “bullshit circuit of favors for favors. As Butler tells it in Our Noise: The Story Of Merge Records, when Funeral exploded into the popular consciousness in 2004, the band stuck to their guns. Whatever happens on their next record, at least Arcade Fire have a history of staying true to themselves. But Butler has always been optimistic enough to inject a little hope into bleak proclamations like “(Antichrist Television Blues),” so their worldview might simply shift toward the former instead of changing entirely. It remains to be seen (hopefully not for much longer) whether that perspective will be altered now that he and Chassagne wear the rose-colored glasses of new parenthood. For Butler, kids - whether digging tunnels in the snow, learning how to drive, or observing their parents - are like canaries in a coal mine for the world’s greater ills. The lasting effects of childhood have been one of Arcade Fire’s central concerns since the band recorded its first demos in Montreal in 2001. And that songwriting husband-and-wife duo Win Butler and Régine Chassagne had a baby boy, but that’s a different story. Few other details have been released about the follow-up to 2010’s Grammy Award-winning The Suburbs except that it’s due sometime this year and James Murphy is the producer. Over Memorial Day weekend, it was breathlessly announced that Arcade Fire were in the process of mixing their new album.
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