ARCADE FIRE

“If you still want me, 

please forgive me, 

the crown of love is not upon me”

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“C”

Main Decada: 00's 

Main Ages: Indie (2001-???)

Key Members:

Win Butler: Singer, Guitar, Multiinstrumentist.

Régine Chassagne: Singer, Multiinstrumentist

Richard Parry: Guitar, multiinstrumentist.

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Key Songs:

Wake Up, Lies, Tunnels, Black Mirror, Intervention, Antichrist Television Blues, Intervention, The Suburbs, Half Light II, Suburban War, Rebellion, Deep Blue, We Used to Wait, Ready To Start, Keep the Car Running, Sprawl II, No Cars Go, Crown of Love, Half Light I, In The Backseat, Ocean of Noise, 7 Kettles, Reflektor

 

Arcade Fire is a strong candidate to be my last B-rated band. But I don't want to rush into it, especially considering that, despite the great quality of their last two albums, they don't come close to matching the perfection of this magnum opus. Even so, Arcade Fire is, in my opinion, the best new band of these first 10 years of the millennium, and their debut album, Funeral, is a strong candidate, in my opinion, to be considered THE ALBUM OF THE DECADE. But while I used to review newly released albums to get more blog posts, I've promised myself never to do it again. This is because only time gives you enough perspective on an album, and in most cases, I've had to change ratings after I've had my ears shut. The same thing happens with Arcade Fire. I'd rather wait a bit and raise their rating to a B later than regret it and have to lower it. A painting can't be fully appreciated up close: you have to take a step back to fully appreciate it...

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Even so, there are plenty of reasons to consider Arcade Fire one of the most interesting bands of the last decade. Perhaps they could argue with the Strokes, Muse, the Killers, the White Stripes, Kings of Leon, or Franz Ferdinand... But while these bands have had ups and downs and are recently trending downwards, it must be considered that (except for Muse) none of them truly revolutionized the way music is treated. Arcade Fire certainly has. They've brought Art Rock back into the fold; experimentation, but without losing the human touch and an enormous sensitivity and capacity to move (something bands had long forgotten), and without ceasing to be accessible and universal for a single moment. Their music may not have the virtuosity of Muse, but it has considerably more soul, more simplicity, and at the same time, more depth. All their songs have a majestic aura, but without being overwhelming or overwhelming. They use unusual instruments, not typical for rock: accordions, marimbas, xylophones, violins, violas, horns, harps, cellos, mellotrons, in addition to more traditional ones like synthesizers, pianos, organs, double bass, etc. But they don't do it based on the musicians (Hey look at me!!!! I'm a gun, a virtuoso, no one can beat me!!!!!!), but always based on the music, combining the influences of the up to 15 musicians who participate in the band: from folk, art rock, classical music, powerful rock riffs, progressive elements, baroque rock, gospel, some pop hooks, overwhelming atmospheres... all in a neat mix, in small doses, but enough to make a perfectly balanced and delicious combination.

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And its lyrics are absolutely beautiful, simple, and universal, unlike the adolescent themes (including alien abductions) of almost all the other bands mentioned.

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The Funeral itself seemed to me to be a moving album for a long time, and it became a must-listen at least once a month. While I've since found a deep melancholy, a kind of enormous sadness in the melodies and arrangements, I think it all came to me in recent days after losing a good friend to the violence strangling the country, which has left me distraught and teary-eyed for the past few days. The true meaning, the strange and brutal sadness of Arcade Fire's Funeral, was revealed to me through this feeling of emptiness, loss, and helplessness, because those are the themes of the album. And also hope. The Funeral is that, a dirge. Delicate. Sensitive. Beautiful. At times brutal. But also full of hope. It's life itself. And life brings sadness. And death. That's why it's such a beautiful, delicate, and absolute album. With this album, the band would gain critical acclaim, and at first, sales were timid. But then, without any powerful marketing campaigns, but rather through word of mouth, it began to climb to become the revelation of 2004-2005, and was considered by many specialized media outlets as the best album of the year. I'm not going to contradict them. I'm even going to venture to call it the best album of the decade. Period.

 

With success and the spotlight upon them, Arcade Fire began to be a regular guest at major festivals in the United States and Europe.

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To record their second album, Neon Bible, the group bought a church on the outskirts of Quebec, and spent part of 2006 remodeling it into a recording studio. The album would have a profound religious influence, featuring harsh critiques and a strong presence of the church's pipe organ. The album would confirm them as a huge, creative band, with poetic and powerful lyrics, capable of returning with a product that follows their line as a band but also offers a slight twist. The album, despite having the most potential singles and the strongest individual songs, also has some songs that I'm not yet convinced contribute to the album as a whole, and that sound very minor. Just two or three songs, but this makes Neon Bible their weakest album to date.

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With 2010's Suburbs, they would confirm themselves as THE band of the millennium. The album is more mature, recapturing that unity as an album and returning to their best. Inspired by the suburbs of Chicago, it is, according to Butler himself, an album inspired by a mix of Depeche Mode and Neil Young, seeking a balance between retro and avant-garde sounds. The album is beautiful, a gem of the Millennium, and earned Arcade Fire every award possible, including the Grammy for Best Album.

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The Arcade Fire is a difficult band to track down due to the number of members, some of whom have had a high turnover and some of whom aren't even permanent, but rather guest on every album. Basically, the pillars are Win Butler and Régine Chassagne. Furthermore, when they say they're the biggest band in the world, they mean it literally. This debut featured no fewer than 15 musicians, all of them credited as Arcade Fire! The band was formed by Win Butler even before moving to Montreal in 2001. Once he settled in Montreal in late 2001, he gathered several musicians and began performing in galleries, universities, cafes, festivals, and the city's many cultural events. By December, the charismatic Régine had joined the band, with whom Win would form a tremendous musical partnership, but whom he would eventually marry. Also joining at this time were bassist Myles Broscoe, guitarist Dane Mills, and multi-instrumentalist Brendan Reed, already developing a sound that escaped labels and genres, yet sounded as cosmopolitan and inclusive as Montreal itself, which nurtured them with its multicultural sounds.

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In mid-2002, this initial lineup headed to Win's family farm in Maine to record what would become the band's first EP. Myles finished recording the self-titled EP, but after strong friction with Win, he left the group just after the sessions ended. He was immediately replaced by Rick Reed Parry, who had signed on to take the band to Maine and was also a multi-instrumentalist, so the band benefited. The EP was released in 2003 and celebrated with a concert by him at the Casa del Popolo. Right at the end of the show, Reed also had an altercation with Win, and the latter left the band on stage, announcing that the group was no longer in existence. Dane Mills left with Reed, and Bill Butler (Win's brother) and Tim Kingsbury joined the band during the EP's short promotional tour. Reed would later return to the group, but Dane did not.

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Among those who can be considered permanent members of the band are the aforementioned Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, Richard Reed Parry, William Butler, Tim Kingsbury, Sarah Neufeld, and Jeremy Gara, most of them multi-instrumentalists.

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The group began moving around the underground circuit and at Canadian cultural festivals. Little by little, with each album, they gained a larger following, critical acclaim, awards, headlined more important festivals, and became bigger and bigger, WITHOUT a marketing machine behind them. Simply with their spectacular and brutally honest music. It doesn't matter if they've become a "mainstream" or popular band. They've proven they've managed to absorb fame and money and continue to make what they know: the best music of today.

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By Corvan 

Jul/27/2011

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