Arcade Fire - A Wrap Up

So I've been curious about Arcade Fire for a few years now. For the most part I assumed their popularity was mostly based on hype. I combine the facts that they play mostly sad music, they use a lot of different instruments in their music, and their concerts can feature about a dozen people on stage at any time, and I figure that people were simply lulled into believing they must be awesome. Well, I no longer condemn their fans for liking them, but I still don't think Arcade Fire is as totally awesome as everyone thinks.

My biggest problem is Arcade Fire still sounds like a smaller band than I know they are. I didn't mention this before, but both times I've seen Arcade Fire playing on a stage they were performing with two drummers. I can't stress how absurd having two drummers in a pop music band is, especially if they're going to be used the way Arcade Fire used them on stage. It was readily obvious both drummers were playing exactly the same parts. They could have achieved the same effect by having one drummer and turning up their amps.

I know I'm repeating myself, but I'm shocked how many people Arcade Fire can play with and still sound like a smaller band. To me they are a great example of doing less with more. In the live version of "Ready To Start" I've seen multiple times, it looks and sounds like every band member is playing the same riff. That might just be the nature of that song, but I'd still expect more to happen with so many people playing. In contrast, a band like Led Zeppelin had only four members. Through studio magic, Jimmy Page could clone himself and make 10 guitarists on "Ten Years Gone" and John Paul Jones could play bass, piano, and all the string parts on "The Rain Song". But when they had to play live they only had four people, and somehow managed to produce music that sounded just as full and amazing. They probably benefited a lot from focusing on a smaller talent pool and were able to do so much more with less.

Another problem with Arcade Fire is how repetitive their catalog sounds even after only four (or five) studio albums. If you got tired of me complaining about eighth notes, blame the band, not the reviewer. It seems a lot of their songs rely on really simple patterns and rhythms, and it becomes tough to hear anything other than the constant pounding of "dundundundundundundun" coming from the background, especially if over top of that you have Win Butler whining about something. Longer instrumental passages in their songs also tended to be empty and repetitive. Not that I'd expect Arcade Fire to rip off an amazing guitar solo, but still... Reflektor was a positive development and features some cool grooves, so maybe Arcade Fire is headed in the right direction.

I reserve the right to retract that statement at any time.

In any case I started this review saying I was vexed by Arcade Fire and admitted it was probably irrational. Now I've done my homework and I don't hate Arcade Fire despite all the shit I just wrote. I might even download Reflektor, even though I think it's really annoying that it's spelled with a K.

OK, now that I've done Arcade Fire a small weight has been lifted off my brain. Now at least they can stop annoying me so much.