Arcade Fire
Issue #31
Neon Bible (Merge)
By Anna Breshears
Published: March 1st, 2007 | 12:00am
Though Arcade Fire’s universally adored 2004 debut, Funeral, chronicled death and suburban disillusionment, the album was an exhilarating listen, with frenetic energy that sent our hearts soaring as the band tumbled into sing-a-long choruses and waves of chugging guitar. Singer-guitarist Win Butler declared, “As I grow older / My heart grows colder,” but he offered a sense of community through song, allowing us to come together by collectively acknowledging our fears and frustrations.
This year’s Neon Bible offers less emotional intimacy than its predecessor, though Bible’s lyrics point to a spiritual crisis so great that the band’s own glimmers of hope often seem like afterthoughts. Arcade Fire’s epic, orchestral layering remains, but garage guitar takes a backseat to synthesizer, strings, and horns.
In the Echo and the Bunnymen–esque “Ocean of Noise,” hollow, reverberated rhythms punctuated by fervent piano and terse string arrangements frame the story of a relationship crumbling under the weight of lies and deceit. Three-quarters of the way in, the mood abruptly lightens and the horns chime in; though Butler sings he’s “gonna work it out,” after such despair, it’s hard to believe.
Closer “My Body is a Cage” pairs ominous organ and hypnotic, slinky beats for a dense narrative on entrapment and the hollowness of fame that could double as a sermon before thundering drums signal an upcoming epiphany. Here, Butler claims he’s seen the light in a quick conclusion that again seems forced.
Conversely, the somberly gorgeous “Black Wave/Bad Vibrations” refuses to tie up loose ends after new-wave synth paired with Régine Chassagne’s sing-song vocals crash into Butler’s refrain “Nothing lasts forever / That’s the way it’s gotta be / There’s a great black wave in the middle of the sea.”
“Keep the Car Running,” “(Antichrist Television Blues),” and “The Well and the Lighthouse” capture more of Funeral’s euphoria, with the rolling beats, handclaps, and the hooky-anthemic choruses that have our heads nodding in unison. On Neon Bible, though, Arcade Fire trades in exuberance for a darker outlook; by turning its gaze inward, the band has created an album that, while intense and beautiful, often fails to connect.
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