(Disclaimer: Those looking for an overall description of the album will find what they're looking for in the "Review Body" section. The section titled "Track Reviews" is meant only for those who want to read detailed descriptions of the songs, and they do not constitute the essence of this review. Lastly and most importantly, this review might not be written in the point of view of an Arcade Fire fan.)

Overall Score: 12/15
Best song: “The Suburbs”
Worst song: “Suburban War” … maybe.

Review Body:

It might not be Funeral, but at least it's more inherently interesting to me than Neon Bible. The reason for that, simply, is that the songwriting has improved. (Anyone who disagrees with that should imagine songs from these albums being played only with an acoustic guitar... There aren't nearly as many two-chord songs on here!) The theme of this album is centered around nostalgia, specifically about Win and William Butler's upbringing in the Houston suburbs. I can imagine what inspired them since I've grown up in a place similar to the Houston suburbs—it was a boring and sterile place, but I inevitably found ways to pass the time. ...And how could I ever regret those times, since it was the only childhood I've ever known?

But anyway, these songs are brilliant; I like all of them. I like some more than I like others, but there's not a single stinker in this 16-track album. It opens with what's for my money the strongest song of the lot: the title track. At its core, it's a simple piano pop song with a catchy riff and an excellent melody to match. As Arcade Fire always do, they drench it with such thick atmosphere that it feels like I should be able to cut through it with a butter knife. You can expect to hear a ton of songs filled to the brim with drowned-out strings, fuzzy synthesizers, distorted and bendy guitars, and an assortment of other instruments that I have trouble identifying.

Another one of my favorite songs of the disc is “Empty Room,” which is about as intensely rockin' as these guys ever get. ...Naturally they don't achieve that quite like most bands would other than using fast-paced drums and thumpy bass; the principle instrument is some subdued fuzz guitar and some intense, tension-building staccato notes from the violinist. They do take the opportunity to rock out in a more conventional way in “Month of May,” which is a simple rock 'n' roller with rapid, glam drums and an uninvolved melody... However, it entertains me immensely and its odd closeted, claustrophobic mix gives it a certain post-modern personality. They do the same thing with “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains),” which at the surface seems like an overly conventional synth-pop song, but it doesn't take me many more listens to discover that there is something else lurking beneath its surface. And whatever that is, I have yet to figure out! (Man! Writing about albums like this is tough! These songs appeal to me, but I can't always tell you why.)

“Rococo” might be the strangest song of the lot with an extremely subdued and detached riff and incessant chantings of Rococo, which is a name I'm guessing they chose for how it sounds more than what it means. It starts out spooky, but by the end those staccato violins among other instruments build up a terrifying mansion from a '30s horror film. Some of the background instrumentals sound twisty at times, like they're aping something from the Middle East. “Sprawl I (Flatland)” also reminds me of an old horror film, and I love it for that; it has a beautiful minor chord sequence, gorgeous melody, and some very arresting strings that I hear welling up in the background. ...It's quite a fascinating number.

Another song I'd like to cherry pick is “Half Light I,” which is utterly glorious in how it builds up. That song, more than almost anything else, reminds me of listening to Funeral; I'd wager an entire flame-war with a hipster by saying that I like that song about as much as I like anything from that album.“City With No Children” and “Modern Man” are first-class subdued pop-rockers if you're into that sort of thing (I know I am)! But as I said before, Arcade Fire might do simplicity, but they don't do it without also giving us a series of rather beautiful background embellishments that gives it personality and atmosphere.

The downside to this album is that it's quite long (more than 60 minutes), and it would have surely benefited from a trim. (Didn't rock 'n' roll bands used to trim less inspired songs off albums and then release them years later in a rarities collection? Don't Arcade Fire think people would be interested in rarity discs from them in whatever the equivalent of the mid-'80s will be for them?) The result is that this album gets tiring to listen to, especially in its second half where there lurks a number of songs that I didn't bother cherry-picking for the main review body. Nonetheless, I've been listening to this album very consistently over the last few weeks and I've enjoyed it without feeling the dire need to skip anything. The songs are all at least well-written enough for them to have earned at least A-minuses in my book. I certainly didn't give the same treatment to Neon Bible. I didn't even do that for Funeral, even though that album certainly had more sweeping and unforgettable moments in it.

Track Reviews:

The Suburbs A+
This is an album about nostalgia, and I hear it through all these songs—and not just through the lyrics. At least I don't think it is. These songs sound like someone fondly, and perhaps longingly, reminiscing of their past and specifically the ambitions they used to have. The song itself is brilliantly catchy. It's based on a nice jangly piano riff, and it compliments perfectly the excellent vocal melody. Midway through, a sweeping string section starts to well out as well as a reverb-heavy, high-pitched synthesizer, all of which starts to drown it all out. Very well done!

Ready to Start A
This is more of the same, except the melody isn't quite as catchy, and they start drowning us out with the thick sounds right away as opposed to just letting it gradually build up. Nevertheless, this continues to be another very well-written and executed song. The melody is memorable—I can immediately remember how it goes just by reading its song title—and the thick instrumentation is quite the spectacle. I'm not even terribly sure how they did it, and it's probably not important for me to know that. I hear a rumbling piano, fuzzy guitar, and many atmospheric synthesizers including a few whoosy sound effects. Regine Chassagne's back-up vocals are even used at opportune times.

Modern Man A
This is a nice, subdued chuggy rocker that's both well orchestrated and has an interesting melody. The riff is catchy, and the vocal melody matches. I hear some echoed sound effects in the background to give it that extra depth that I'd always expect from this band. ...But as a whole, it's simple and straightforward—and it works.

Rococo A+
It's more difficult for me to put my finger on this one, although I also enjoy listening to it. It's based on a very peculiar heavy string riff that's very detached and not particularly catchy but it still manages to engage my interest. They help it along with some heavily dramatic bouncy strings and some heavy blankets of heavily distorted guitars. Another violin line gets added on the top of it all by the end, which is way more interesting than the original line, and helps the song dramatically move along. They keep on chanting “Rococo” in the lyrics, which is pretty cool.

Empty Room A+
Now, this song is really good. Instrumentally, it's a whole lot of noisy mayhem. They seem to like those staccato strings, which build tension, and then supplementing those with noisy waves of distorted fuzz guitar (or whatever instrument is making those noises)! Chassagne gives a phenomenal vocal performance in here, sounding passionate even though the instruments are drowning her out severely by the end. The melody is good and engaging, and even memorable.

City With No Children A
At least these songs don't sound too samey. This is much calmer than the previous song, a subdued mid-tempo chuggy rocker similar to “Modern Man.” The riff is fine—a bit on the detached side and not terribly catchy but it's interesting enough to capture my attention. It's a well-written song that I enjoy quite a lot although not a particularly “major” song.

Half Light I A+
This is one of those songs I remember long after this album is through playing. Like Funeral, this sounds like they were repressing a lot of emotions, and they were finally given the chance to let a little bit of it out. The instrumentation continues to be extremely noisy and dramatic, drenched with pulsating fuzz guitars and scaling strings. It's very bombastic through dreary, and not quite like anything I've heard before. I like that they're using more than two chords in this song—as they generally have been throughout the album—which makes it inherently more interesting to me than most of the stuff in Neon Bible.

Half Light II (No Celebration) A-
This is the Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze to the previous track's Ninja Turtles. It's much of the same through not quite as good but still awesome in its own way. They're really in love with drenching their songs with these loud and dreary noises. Usually it works pretty well, but here it gets to be a little bit too much for me. The melody is nicely done, though; without the drenched instrumentation it would have made a nice folk song, I think.

Suburban War A-
I suppose here comes my expected complaint that this album is a bit too long, and I get a little bit tired of it after awhile. It's another well-written, subdued pop rocker although the riff is neither catchy nor *detached* enough to interest me greatly. Nonetheless, I continue to like the delivery, particularly Butler's overly dramatic vocal performance, which is a tone that he always manages to do very well. Midway though the song, they bring up some heavy tribal drums, which was a very cool idea.

Month of May A
Ah, well here at least they do something to significantly change things up! This very heavy fuzz rocker is so bare and simple especially with those tight, glammy drums that I might be tempted to call it generic. However, there's something totally off-kilter about it—especially as it hits the outtro—that I can't throw such a term at it. It seems kind of stuffy, like a full-chorused song from The Rocky Horror Picture Show performed in a powder room.

Wasted Hours A-
This might be a long album, but I like that they brought in a pleasantly bouncy song, more reminiscent of the opening song, which we haven't seen in awhile. The melody is very catchy, but it does tend to get boring whenever they strip off the rhythm and leave those dreary background synthesizers to orchestrate it. ...It just seems to lose its momentum. Anyway, there's my nitpick!

Deep Blue A
Well this is a stroooooooooong song, which by comparison makes that A- I gave the previous song a tad overblown. (It had a good melody and tasteful instrumentation, what do you expect me to do?) The rhythm section here is driving. I especially like hearing that piano at the beginning of it that sounds like someone was jamming the thing. By the end, it starts to sound darker and perhaps rubbery. The melody is beautiful and they perform it in a dramatically soaring way, which gives me nice shivers down my spine. The atmosphere once again is thick and unique... it's a very easy song for me to get myself immersed in...

We Used to Wait A-
Not one of the more inspired songs of this album, there's nothing particularly great about the melody nor about the instrumentation... at least more than anything else has been on this album. For this one, we get a pretty blankly pounding piano with more of those distorted, echoey sound effects in the background. It continues to make a good listen, but nothing spectacular.

Sprawl I (Flatland) A
I don't so much get the feeling of nostalgia from this song, but some sort of gothic horror film. It starts as an atmospheric and low-key ballad with thick strings and what sounds like a harpsichord all playing a minor key sequence. By the middle, it starts to build up although never to any great towering heights, which of course these guys always did brilliantly throughout Funeral. The vocal performance might be over-dramatic, but then again, I don't think they're the only people in the world who don't get melodramatic over their nostalgia episodes.

Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) A
This is much closer to “Month of May” in that at its surface it's an overly generic pop-rocker, but there's *something* to it that makes it seem just a bit greater than that. It's a synth-pop song with stilted drum machines, a stilted chord progression, and a simple synthesizer arpeggios. The melody is simple but catchy and its passionately delivered by Chassagne who gets more dramatic by its very end, which works for it. ...Naturally, they still managed to layer on thick, noisy effects in the background that sounds like swarms of locusts sometimes. ...I'm not sure how capable these guys are of writing straightforward music normally.

The Suburbs (Continued)
Not a song, but a sort of wistful instrumental version of the song that opened the beginning of the album. The violins sound weird, like they're playing backwards. I hear Win Butler singing longingly about how he wants his old time back so that he could waste it again... Wait, what's wrong with your lives as pop stars, anyway?

Concluding Remarks:

While this might not be as grandiose or even as iconic as Funeral, it's a very good album in its own right and it continues to show that Arcade Fire have well-earned their reputations as one of this generation's finer pop-rock bands.

Read more Arcade Fire reviews by Starcollector!

Funeral (2004) | Neon Bible (2007) | The Suburbs (2010)

Recommended: Yes