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On the Shelf 106: Arcade Fire
Nov. 13th, 2013 06:45 pmAs you likely know, The Arcade Fire released their newest album Reflektor. Reflektor has got some rough publicity, and it is pretty much not the album anyone expected.
It would be easy for some to consider it a Win Butler/James Murphy sideproject, but that's a bit unfair. It's clearer on every listen that this is Arcade Fire, and maybe in comparison to say, Thom Yorke's solo work and Atoms for Peace, this is a band record.
It would also be easy just to dismiss this as 'uninspired' as one reviewer put it. Let's not confuse 'easily accessible' with 'inspired'.
It's true that it's a bit much to digest.
The album that continuously comes up in conversation is Achtung Baby, but I don't arrive there. Critics want to say this is a move to dance from rock like U2, but it's impossible to compare Arcade Fire at this stage with U2 at that. One would do much better to compare it with Kid A or even Speakerboxx/The Love Below - a highly anticipated moment from a buzz band trying to make the most of their time in the spotlight.
2013 is full of albums by bands who have had their moment in the sun, tagged as the Big New Thing, and are having trouble redefining their sound. Franz Ferdinand, the Strokes, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are all having various degrees of progression towards albums 4 or 5.
Still, the comparison that I can't escape is Sandinista. An album so ambitious in scope that it does self in by excess. Refeekor is an album of too many songs that are too long (7-8 minutes). There's plenty of stuff that seems unnecessary- dub reggae, backward tape feed, 80s style extended remix.
Is there a better indication of Reflektor than the title track and opening single. It isn't immediate but you can't escape it after awhile. A slow burn that builds up towards the end. Not instantly accessible, but enough to stick in your head. Similarly, the probable follow-up "Here Comes The Night Time" works productively to a crescendo, making you think you couldn't cut it down from its four plus minutes.
So, while I am not arguing this is the best record of 2013, it makes a certain argument to be included on the extended list. There may be excess, but there's a certain amount of genius as well.
It would be easy for some to consider it a Win Butler/James Murphy sideproject, but that's a bit unfair. It's clearer on every listen that this is Arcade Fire, and maybe in comparison to say, Thom Yorke's solo work and Atoms for Peace, this is a band record.
It would also be easy just to dismiss this as 'uninspired' as one reviewer put it. Let's not confuse 'easily accessible' with 'inspired'.
It's true that it's a bit much to digest.
The album that continuously comes up in conversation is Achtung Baby, but I don't arrive there. Critics want to say this is a move to dance from rock like U2, but it's impossible to compare Arcade Fire at this stage with U2 at that. One would do much better to compare it with Kid A or even Speakerboxx/The Love Below - a highly anticipated moment from a buzz band trying to make the most of their time in the spotlight.
2013 is full of albums by bands who have had their moment in the sun, tagged as the Big New Thing, and are having trouble redefining their sound. Franz Ferdinand, the Strokes, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are all having various degrees of progression towards albums 4 or 5.
Still, the comparison that I can't escape is Sandinista. An album so ambitious in scope that it does self in by excess. Refeekor is an album of too many songs that are too long (7-8 minutes). There's plenty of stuff that seems unnecessary- dub reggae, backward tape feed, 80s style extended remix.
Is there a better indication of Reflektor than the title track and opening single. It isn't immediate but you can't escape it after awhile. A slow burn that builds up towards the end. Not instantly accessible, but enough to stick in your head. Similarly, the probable follow-up "Here Comes The Night Time" works productively to a crescendo, making you think you couldn't cut it down from its four plus minutes.
So, while I am not arguing this is the best record of 2013, it makes a certain argument to be included on the extended list. There may be excess, but there's a certain amount of genius as well.
