A friend recently described Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs" as a grower, and that's proving absolutely true. What comes across on first listen as the bleeding together of similar songs develops into... GASP! An actual album."The Suburbs" is the Canadian band's most complete and consistent work. The band's first two albums were interesting in composure but more notable for their stand-out tracks like "Keep the Car Running" and "Wake Up." On this record the band deals out an emotional ride that, while certainly offering its single-worthy material, is better served with the time to experience creative rock and roll.
"City With No Children" continues the band's heavy flirtation with Bruce Springsteen's "Darkness on the Edge of Town" material, which would be very easy to criticize as derivative if it wasn't so damn good. "Suburban War" is another Springsteen-laden track, but it's also probably the best song I've heard so far in 2010. It's haunting. It's affecting. It's downright wonderful, with its coda?:
"All my old friends, they don't know me now. All my old friends, are staring through me now. All my old friends, wait."
It'd be easier to call frontman Win Butler the high school outcast now living large up in his critics' faces, but that's not quite right. Perhaps it's fitting that Butler's defiant hipster visage is what keeps me from truly embracing the band, because his lyrics scream for some sort of communal acceptance of his egotism. I'm not saying I can't appreciate that. If there's anything I hate about it, it's how hard it is to be that honest... and that correct.
In the end, this song will give you a new favorite track each time through. "Month of May" and "We Used To Wait" are great examples of this. It's moving music with a seething straight-forward approach. Cheers to "The Suburbs."
No comments:
Post a Comment