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Arcade Fire hasn’t always been able to keep up with its time, both representative and defiant at the same time. It is easy to place the group within the so-called aesthetic. New Intimacya post-9/11 ideology that rejects the previous micro-generation’s embrace of modern cynicism and postmodern irony. Arcade Fire, by definition, he cared. Lethargy and boredom were his bogeymen. During the first decade of its release, the Canadian band released a series of loose concept albums aimed at the time-tested opiates of the masses – organized religion. “Neon Bible” Conformist living in 2007 “Suburban” in 2010.
Still, there was a retrospective in the group—not necessarily a bad thing. Arcade Fire was at its sharpest as it sought to pierce the inherited mythology of its mid-century past. However, it was never quite so successful when he first shifted his gaze to the present in 2013 and began to rage against the machines, on his ambitious album. “Reflective” and again in the less inspired 2017 follow-up, “Everything Now.”
So it’s unfortunate that the band doubles down on this approach on most of their albums. sixth album, “We” An LP that wants to be seen as a course fix but still shares many of its predecessor’s thematic picks. We live in an age of anxiety, and we’re reminded of the end of an empire, songs with big, revealing titles like “Age of Anxiety I” and “End of the Empire I-IV.” The first is a seeking, desolate opener with rhythmic backing vocals that hum and howl superficially as if they can’t breathe at all. The nine-minute, multi-part suite “End of the Empire” contains a few nice twists, but ultimately is airy and vague, attempting to channel a modernized vision of the apocalypse from artists like Phoebe Bridgers.“I Know The End”) and Lana Del Rey (“The best”) has recently taken off more concisely and sharply.
“Age of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole)” has some dazzling musical moments, like when a contemplative synth line suddenly becomes the evil twin of New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle.” Win Butler and Régine Chassagne produced “We” alongside Nigel Godrich, best known for his work with Radiohead, and their collaboration highlights the more up-tempo material.
Still, there are a few occasions when head-scratching lyrics take the listener out of an ecstatic moment. The catchiest and most optimistic number in “We” is neo-80s pop gem “Unconditional II (Race and Religion)” sung by Chassagne with vocals from Peter Gabriel. The beat and melodic string are hypnotizing, but the song is built around the hook “I’m be your Race and Religion” – heavy, loaded (or maybe just weird) that’s never obvious enough to make the listener want to sing ) throughout an expression.
Except galvanizing lead single, “Lightning I, II” As many heralded a return to form, the band sounds best on their song “We”, which speaks the folk-rock idiom like the humble closing title track. The sweet, cheerful “I Unconditional (Watch Boy)” addresses Butler and Chassagne’s 9-year-old son, relaying hard-earned life lessons as he reflects on the limitations of parental guidance. Call it attentive dad rock. “There are things you can do that no one else in the world can do,” Butler says warmly, “but I can’t teach you.”
The antidote to the age of anxiety this recording suggests is relatively simple: get out of the flat and depersonalizing world of the digital rabbit hole and reinvest in IRL personal connection. “I want to go crazy, I want to be free,” Butler sings in the low end, accompanied by an idyllic 12-string guitar. “Do you want to get out of this car with me?” The stakes sound a little low, as I’m not entirely convinced that it is until now. over journey to begin.
Many of the most powerful artworks in recent times about the suffering and waning ecstasy of being online excessively – Patricia Lockwood’s marvelous novel “Nobody Talks About This” The last few albums of the British pop group 1975 — he spoke vividly the language of the internet and with a specificity that his writers were not entirely separate from the culture they were criticizing, and that is exactly what makes his eventual protests acceptable. Arcade Fire’s techno-dystopian depictions instead feel more distant and cluttered.
“I’m unsubscribing,” Butler repeatedly says throughout “End of the Empire,” and Chassagne underscores this with backing vocals until the line’s fleeting wit fades. But what exactly are they giving up? Despite its occasional bright moments, “We” often finds Arcade Fire stuck in a digital maze of its own design, ignoring the fact that it always sounds more off-grid.
Arcade Fever
“We”
(Colombia)
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