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Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
- With 2004's Funeral, Arcade Fire shocked the world, giving us an artsy, lush debut album that was nothing short of a masterpiece. But, alas, this meant the Canadian septet had to have reached its creative peak. Surely, they'd never be able to follow it up, would they?
Don't be misled. With their 2007 follow-up album, “Neon Bible,” Win Butler and Co. returned more glorious than ever before.
The product of almost a year spent in a converted church studio, “Neon Bible” is, oddly enough, less grandiose than its predecessor. But here’s the kicker: it’s more immediately accessible. The essential ingredients in the Arcade Fire recipe - gloom, enigma and, in spite of it all, charisma - ring stronger than ever, allowing the band to deliver an album more suited to its frenetic and unmissable live sets.
On “Neon Bible,” the band channels an eerie, apocalyptic vibe not entirely unlike that of Muse's “Absolution,” though this is achieved in quite a different manner. While Muse structured their album homogenously, giving us dreary rocker after dreary rocker, Arcade Fire has actually achieved their goal by diversifying the set on “Neon Bible.”
For example, the album opens with "Black Mirror," an ominous, brooding and, somehow, anthemic number. It’s certainly not a song one would expect to be followed up by "Keep the Car Running" – a poppier, more upbeat number that wouldn't sound too out of place on a Bloc Party album.
However, it’s the strangely radiant lead single, "Intervention," that best exemplifies the structure of “Neon Bible.” Clocking in at just over four minutes long, the song summarizes the entire theme of the album. A glance at the lyrics reveals such morose lyrics as "Working for the church while your family dies / Your little baby sister's gonna lose her mind / Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home."
Forget what you may think, for the band’s deceptive mastery has struck again. The words are hidden under organs, strings and accordions that are nothing if not triumphant. Picture a slightly gloomier version of “Bittersweet Symphony” and you’ve got the musical essence of “Intervention.” It’s something one could only expect from Arcade Fire.
On “Neon Bible,” combinations like this take the album a long way. It is a success in the truest sense of the word, and easily the finest release of 2007.
Reviewer: Dan Kaplan
new
Reviewer's Rating: 9
Reader's Rating: 10.00
Reader's Votes: 1
Added: 8-Mar-2009
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