Power’s Out

Since winning the Grammy award for Album of the Year earlier this year, the Arcade Fire has enjoyed growing success (despite outcries from different namby pambies that I commented on in my other blog http://jwhisperyrants.blogspot.com/2011/02/more-grammy-fallout.html), with The Suburbs jumping in Billboard’s Billboard 200 albums list to #12 from #52.  Their other records have subsequently received a boost in sales due to this win.

All of their recent success has been long overdue in my opinion.  Win Butler and crew have written three excellent full-length albums that are engrossing lyrically and musically.  Win Butler and Régine Chassagne lead the band, whose lineup has shuffled a couple of times to its current lineup, which also includes Win’s brother William on drums.  They are a powerful live band with a strong message and personalities that have weathered several personal storms to get to where they are today.  Their first wide release, Funeral, is the subject of my next entry.

# 23 – The Arcade Fire, Funeral (Metascore =90)

Funeral was released in September 2004 on Merge Records, who picked up the band after hearing their self-titled EP.  Funeral has an interesting history as the album was recorded during dark emotional times within the band members’ lives.  Chassagne’s grandmother, Win and William’s grandfather, and multi-instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry’s aunt all died in the period leading up to the recording.  As such, a lot of the lyrics reflect this period of grief, struggle and coping that had taken place.

Four of the songs’ titles start with “Neighborhood #” and then refer to some event going on.  For instance, “Neighborhood #2 (Laïka)” references the dog of the same name that was sent by the Soviet Union into space with no intent of coming back.  The character in the story does this same sort of thing, though when I hear it I could relate the lyrics to some friend who has abandoned his family and friends for another life without coming back.  In “Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)”, one of my favorite songs from this record, Butler has spoken about the song, that it shouldn’t be seen negatively but as an uplifting look at neighbors sharing love and “light” in their hearts to help others.  Another look into the lyrics, though, and you could see a reference to people that hide secrets about themselves from their neighbors, how you can’t always hide when the “powers out”.

Thematically you can hear the tie in with the losses that members of the band felt while recording this album.  In “Wake Up” the character seems bitter at the loss of his love and passes that bitterness down to his children.  “Haiti”, in a slight departure in location, refers to loved ones from Chassagne’s homeland of Haiti that still live there during the reign of notorious dictator Duvalier.  But throughout the record, there are references, whether told in first person or third person, that drive this theme through the record.  Obviously this gives the album depth and purpose, something that always makes critics happy.

Musically you can hear the fervor in the band’s performances.  Each song has a drive to it that fits the lyrics of the song.  For instance, “In the Backseat” is Chassagne’s dirge to her grandmother, and the band plays with a slow, chugging force that helps the listener feel Chassagne’s pain in the loss.  “Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)” has a sharper, faster drive that gives the song a feeling of anxiety and recklessness that are carried in the lyrics.

I have been a strong supporter for the Arcade Fire and their music over the past year though I have known of them for at least four years.  Funeral is the album that launched their career and is also their highest rated record to date.  Of the three it is the strongest and also their rawest.  As they progress album to album, the sound becomes richer as the production process becomes richer.  I think this is a great album worthy of at least a listen.