Review: Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (II)

I feel like I should recuse myself from writing this review, because my level of Arcade Fire fanboyism has reached critical mass. Having been burned so many times before, I generally adopt a layer of skepticism with which I listen to any new album by a band I’ve liked in the past. I really didn’t have that skepticism for The Suburbs, though. From the moment I first read about it, I thought, “Yeah, that’s probably going to be pretty fucking good.” If my Twitter feed has been any indication, though, I’m not alone in that regard.  Arcade Fire are a great band, and it would have been downright surprising if this album turned out to be anything less than excellent.

That’s not to say that it’s more of the same, though. Far from it. From the jaunty piano that opens The Suburbs‘ title track, it’s clear that this is going to be a different experience than previous Arcade Fire albums. Instrumentally, it is a lot more upbeat than Funeral and Neon Bible. Lyrically, it may be their most bittersweet album yet. “I want a daughter while I’m still young,” Win Butler sings over the aforementioned piano. “I want to hold her hand and show her some beauty before this damage is done.” Already it’s apparent that Butler and company still know how to tug at the heartstrings.

Speaking of strings: don’t worry, they haven’t ditched them on this album. They’re used to a slightly different effect, though. “Empty Room” is a good example of this; it manages to be orchestral without being elegiac. Like many of the tracks here, it rocks a lot harder than you might expect from Arcade Fire. It’s a testament to the band that their third full-length, where many bands tend to lose steam, is their most energetic one yet. Radiohead also pulled this off with OK Computer. I could see a future in which Arcade Fire follows the same career trajectory as Radiohead, i.e. always being awesome.

Arcade Fire have always had thematically consistent songs, but The Suburbs is the closest they’ve come to an actual concept album. As one might expect from the album title, or from a track list that includes “Suburban War” and “Sprawl (Flatland),” suburban angst is the overarching theme here. Not since Desaparecidos’ Read Music/Speak Spanish has the blight that is the American suburb been so thoroughly excoriated. Granted, Arcade Fire don’t have quite the righteous rage as Desaparecidos, but that level of vitriol would be a bit incongruous with their more polished, melodic tunes.

Wayne Coyne aside, Arcade Fire have built up a fair amount of good will among fans and critics. They’re not likely to be losing their standing as a nearly unassailable indie rock institution anytime soon. The Suburbs is without a doubt the best album to come out so far this year, and barring any unforeseen acts of sheer genius it’s likely to retain that position.

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About the Author

Jeremy Clymer lives in Michigan with his wife and kid. He shoots his writings out into the ethers of the Internet in the hopes that someone will pick up on his transmissions and shower him with money and/or praise.

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