First Listen: Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs"
Maybe there was too much hype leading into this album. Maybe the preponderance of positive reviews for certain tracks heightened expectations unrealistically. Maybe it is just a little too happy. Whatever the reason, I can't help but get up out of The Chair with a head-scratching feeling disappointment.
Sides A/B are upbeat. Very upbeat from the same band that brought Funeral to the world in aural orgasm of chamber pop. And very upbeat from the same band that created an epic out of cynicism and panic with Neon Bible. Sides C/D travel back into that dark realm, but in settings with more sparse instrumentation than they've used in the past. On one hand, it's nice to hear some of the songs given a chance to breathe. On the other, isn't Arcade Fire defined by walls of orchestral bombast?
A few more listens will help. I'm sure it will find a niche mood where I'm both craving AF and looking for something that's only occasionally depressing.
*Note: It seems they haven't lost their knack for guiding the listener's mind into a vocabulary with big words. Sorry about that.
Sides A/B are upbeat. Very upbeat from the same band that brought Funeral to the world in aural orgasm of chamber pop. And very upbeat from the same band that created an epic out of cynicism and panic with Neon Bible. Sides C/D travel back into that dark realm, but in settings with more sparse instrumentation than they've used in the past. On one hand, it's nice to hear some of the songs given a chance to breathe. On the other, isn't Arcade Fire defined by walls of orchestral bombast?
A few more listens will help. I'm sure it will find a niche mood where I'm both craving AF and looking for something that's only occasionally depressing.
*Note: It seems they haven't lost their knack for guiding the listener's mind into a vocabulary with big words. Sorry about that.
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