So this is the big one. The album that Arcade Fire truly rode to the top. The one that puts them on a pedestal with our greatest musica artists like... Bruce Springsteen and U2? Oh wait, that was their performance at the Grammys where they played that one song. In any case, this is supposed to be BIG, a game-changer, the whole reason Win Butler was put on this Earth.
OK, so I'm being a bit dramatic. I just desperately want this to not suck.
And lo and behold, the title track leads off and doesn't suck. I might even call it good. No, it is good. It's exactly the direction I wanted Arcade Fire to go in on their previous albums- dark but not dreary. It's also relatively light on instruments, driven mostly by a slightly out-of-tune piano. What I really like is the song doesn't rely on the Arcade Fire standard 8th-note beat. Not that it has a complex groove or anything like that, but the old-timey honky-tonk piano progression is pretty cool.
So, I can just leave it at that. Right? How about I just end this endeavor now on a high note? I wish I could. It might be hard to believe, but I don't actually enjoy hating on music. I want to like Arcade Fire, and what "The Suburbs" represents to me is hope. I'm hoping The Suburbs is not as bland as Funeral and Neon Bible. But to butcher a quote from Bane, there can be no true hope without despair.
There are two things on my mind. First, I've heard 2 complete Arcade Fire albums and have liked small snippets of both, only to be disappointed by the rest. So it might be that I've just heard the best The Suburbs has to offer. Second, I've noted a few times how albums are often front-loaded with the best song leading things off. This is a terrible practice if you ask me but a lot of bands do it. "The Suburbs" was good, but if it's the best track on The Suburbs I'm going to be very disappointed.
With that, I press on...
"Ready To Start" is next and... I don't know what to say. I previously featured a clip of a glowing review that said the band's performance of this song shot them up into stratosphere of awesomeness or something. I think it also might have been the song I heard them play on The Daily Show that made me wonder how they could play so little music with so many people on stage. I might be misremembering the song. The album version certainly isn't anything to get worked up over. It's pretty quiet and mostly understated for a song with such a driving beat. Maybe the live versions are a different animal.
"Modern Man" has an annoying quirk. The verses shift between 9/4 and 4/4 time, which normally wouldn't bother me. Using weird time signatures is difficult so I respect artists who try to create something that doesn't fit the human ear's preference for all things 4/4. But I don't like the way Arcade Fire does it. The 9/4 verses aren't smooth, so the extra note in the measure feels like a skip in the track. If it weren't for that I'd kinda like this song.
No idea what "Rococo" is, but it's kinda neat, dark and heavy. It also makes me think of the Chameleon Brothers. "Empty Room" is useless filler obnoxiously stuffed with a rapid-fire string accompaniment. "City With No Children" is OK. It's the first song that makes me think Win Butler has a pretty decent singing voice. "Half Light I" is too light and airy for my taste. The next song is called "Half Light II (No Celebration)". Seriously guys, will you stop it with the parentheses? It's not even that similar to "Half Light I". Just call it "No Celebration" and move on.
"Suburban Wars" has a neat retro Byrds vibe and a very welcome shuffling beat. But while listening I suddenly realize The Suburbs is slipping back into that annoying Arcade Fire dreariness I was hoping we could leave behind. "Month of May" sounds too much like another song I remember hearing that had a boring hard guitar riff I think on Funeral. "Wasted Hours" is slow filler. "Deep Blue" is further dark dreariness. "We Used To Wait" is very sad and boring.
"Sprawl I (Flatland)" is a... ARGH, PARENTHESES!!! Anyway, I know a lot of people think sprawl is bad because reasons, but I doubt anyone thinks it is this uncompromisingly sad. Seriously, Win is practically weeping. "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" sounds exactly like that "Heart of Glass" song by Blondie making it an odd compliment to the first sprawl song, which was the most depressing song ever. I've also just learned "sprawl" is one of those words that you can really only say once or twice before it starts sounding like a fake word.
The album thankfully closes out with a string reprise of "The Suburbs" to remind you that yes, you did like at least one song on this album. I do think The Suburbs is an improvement on their previous music. It was a much more complex and musically interesting listen than Funeral and Neon Bible. I still don't think I liked it enough to give it more than 2 stars. It was an incremental improvement, but Arcade Fire still does too many things I don't like.
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