Before hard times, don't give up

15 months ago I claimed ARCADE FIRE had released one of the best records of the current decade, period. Funeral: was melancholic, entrenched in future hopes with eyes firmly upon a wistful past. It bridged gaps between Rock generations with delicacy. I remember stating something similar in what regards KEANE's debut.

2007. Both KEANE and ARCADE FIRE seem unsettled. KEANE unleashed a trivial sophomore effort, hardly an improvement over their glossy, yet emotionally complex, debut. ARCADE FIRE, on the other side, is gloomy, just letting despair get under their skin. As if they have just been introduced to MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE's Black Parade. Some trauma managed to trend the Canadians out of their beatific waters. Pay due attention to lyrics and you'll notice the hard times of international politics got caught their attention. Now they inhibit a wasteland, with gloomy orchestration and tortured yelling. The Gothic in their formula was brough forth. Outcomes are mixed, when they had left much of their trademark allure behind. The sonic canvas are now filled with minimalist, strained grayscale and recurring images of blurred images, cars on motion, water. The remaining sonic flourishes are signs of a bipolar disturb underpinning.

No longer the loving couple Win Butler/Regine Chassagne lick their vocal wounds with delicacy. Butler takes the lead with Ian McCulloch's quicksand urgency. Chassagne is relegated to odd backing vocals. Richard Reed Parry, Timonthy Kingsbury and Will Butler this time not only exchanged basses, guitars and the sorts among themselves - they did it in what regards massive orchestration and synths. What about guests Pietro Amato (horns), Howard Bilerman and Arlen Thompson (drums), Anita Fust (harp), Genevieve Heistek (viola), Jessica Moss, Sophie Truedeau and Sarah Neufeld (violins), Michael Olsen (cello), Owen Pallett (strings)? They appear from time to time, but basically, ARCADE FIRE is no longer a musical collective, they are a Rock band as religiously zelous as U2 (Neon Bible was partially records in churches), as politically earnest as late-day GREEN DAY and, unfortunately, just not as dramatic as ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN, which was always a key influence.

That's to say the record is conservative, sometimes preachy, uncartain of what to do and providing mixed music as result, sometimes dripping with old age whereas Funeral, ironically, was uplifting and life-affirming. But when Neon Bible hits, it even tops the predecessor in Pop and rootsy finesse.

Black Mirror, the leading single, is a haunting pot of deranged synths and skewed harmonies, as if THE BEATLES' Back In The USSR was forced its way upon a razorblade. There's noticeable bass and piano melodies which, of course, sound more COLDPLAY than anything else. Efficient vocals from Butler keep pomposity under check, though. Expressionist metaphors ("black mirror bears no reflection") and punchy choruses of "mirror, mirror on the wall/show me where them bombs will fall" remind you of an unease fusion of Gothic and Emo aesthetics. It's odd, inviting reflection.

Keep The Car Running bears a low-register shiny intro, a dark riff variaton on THE CULT's Big Neon Glitter, then it rolls into post-Punk groove. It's accessible, yet, uncontrollable and intangible. More effective than U2's City of Blinding Lights as a metaphor for impeding urban doom. And the chorus...Oh! Ian McCulloch in his youth. The track is past rebuilt for our current paranoias. Wonderful dynamics. It's the pinnacle of this troubled record and one of the very best singles of the year. Perfect pop. I wonder why they couldn't keep the pace for much of the remainder.

Neon Bible the title track is unsettling, a deceptive melodic depiction of a world gone wrong (wonderful bass lead and a Jazzy ambience). SCOTT WALKER comes to mind. Late-day ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN too. It's about finding safe haven in religion, facing a troubled world and your own weary soul. I remember a track called The Killing Moon that followed this script. Even no match for the apex of Rock N'Roll, highly enjoyable.

Intervention opens with an orgy of laserbeam church organs. "No place to hide/soldier on inside/on your mind" and politics is back in full, or almost, effect. "Working for the church where your family dies" is not an overtly optimistic way of depicting religion. It's ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN again, this time from heavy on organs 1987's The Game. The chorus melody is oddly reminiscent of QUEEN's Radio Ga Ga, the records must be affecting my mind. Finally we have backing vocals and female voices, in a PINK FLOYDian sense! Still, too odd and too prone on half-baked proletarism to configurate a triumph.

Black Wave/Bad Ambitions opens with a strained female voice (Chassagne) in a Synthpop detached ambience. As if ULTRAVOX hired one of the girls from HUMAN LEAGUE for a regular New Wave piece with their French Canadian accent meeting JEAN MICHEL JARRE. Doubled titles for songs are a sign of RADIOHEAD aftertaste. Accordingly, there's a shift in tone (the melody is played in a lower tone) in this mini-suite to Butler's impeding doom prophesy. The final outcome is odd, yet quietly intriguing. I still ask why they are so detached when Butler said they wanted to reach the whole world with such a record. Maybe in pure geographic sense? I regret for their previous sensitive approach.

Ocean of Noise marks the middle of this uneven record with a thunderous intro and an ominous bass melody. Mentions to oceanic violence and the emptiness of streets coalesce in a semi-chorus of acquiescence. The singer's voice gets thinner every minute. There's no final release from the noisy oceans. The turbulent moods of the singer/lead role are reflected in the wistful mood, violins and cellos running free for the first time. There's a beautiful mini-break reminding me of Une Annee Sans Lumiere, then followed by grandiloquent serpetine strings. But this track could have been so much better...It's almost an acquired taste. As if they were afraid to reveal themselves. As if they could only express themselves via metaphors, not straightforward hearts and groin.

The Well and the Lighthouse bears the lo-fi atmosphere of the early records by VASELINES and PASTELS, as well as frantic, Scottish, textures all around, oddball backing vocals. It all ends sounding like BELLE & SEBASTIAN, which it not exactly a gift for a band that ambitious. Music for carousels. An eccentric pop gem channeled through a faux- marching pace that still annoys this listener until the whole thing becomes a lullaby. It is what happens when great bands indulge in their own vapidity. It says not much with many sonic layers.

(Antichrist Television Blues) is a light-Blues or lightly-inflicted-Bluesy-Country number. Better than many could imagine, it sounds positively moving to the pace of the minimal viola (!) melody and Gospelish female backings. Butler is positively intoxicating as a troubadour. In political terms, it's more ironic than preachy. It's the kind of Blues VAN MORRISON used to spawn twice a record, 30 years ago. OK, it's far from his brilliance, but the Indie-turned-Roots mood is not hard to explain to your heart. Eventually the female backings collapse into woodpeackers' babble but you are won anyway.

Windowsill is the kind of thing that could have belonged in an old VIOLENT FEMMES record. A brooding, stale narrative of country soul-searching and rampant inadequacy. "Don't want your black and blue/Don't wanna see what they done to you/Don't wanna live in my father's house/Don't wanna fight in a holy war" is a kind of existential catharsis for this young outfit. They finally find their sincerity once again with simple music sketches and decision-making. Once for all, "'cause the tide is high/and its rising still,/and I don't wanna see it at my windowsill" provides the invitation to go and provide the answers, breaking with never-ending ruminations.

Unfortunately, 6-minute No Cars Go is another hesitant oddball, violas, violins, cellos, harps confering a THE THE canvas to bubbling synths and CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH twisted singing, Indie percussion and cute random backings "hey hey". It's a moody piece, fundamentally, from once Indie leaders of the pack. Now confortably dealing with their previous achievements, ARCADE FIRE seem bemused by their modest achievements. Sounds good while they're having fun but hey, there were no fluffy buns in the park previously! More luck next time.

My Body is a Cage resembles Blues more thoroughly than it's AntiChrist counterpart. Almost a capella, a convincing Butler and a church organ do what PRIMAL SCREAM struggles to keep alongside their career - coherence and parsimony dealing with rootsy genres. The redemption. "Set my body free...", Gospel backings and confessional lyrics better than anything from THE WHITE STRIPES' fondness for the same building blocks. And, even better after all, an apocalyptical orgy of synths, terrifying scats and fiery vocals bringing it all back to THE ROLLING STONES' Gimme Shelter. Because my body is a cage, get me out of here! I expect THE RACONTEURS to do this, it's a pleasure to see ARCADE FIRE joining the club.

There's still hope and relevance to ARCADE FIRE. Even in more modest terms. They had plenty of space and time to advance. They preferred to let the world's curse delve into their inner dwellings and bring the outcomes back with a bulb of light. Will they be defeated stale by such hardships or will they prevail and regain the access to their secret garden of wonders? Time will tell. Until that, enjoy the sophomore effort from one of the very best ensembles in this world! See ya.

File under: the world is a vampire

Related reviews:

http://www.epinions.com/content_215242346116
ARCADE FIRE's debut Funeral
http://www.epinions.com/content_287833099908
MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE's Welcome to the Black Parade
http://www.epinions.com/content_294236360324
YEAH YEAH YEAH's Show Your Bones
http://www.epinions.com/content_314497797764
SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES' The Scream
http://www.epinions.com/content_252921941636
OASIS' (What The Story) Morning Glory
http://www.epinions.com/content_190816620164

Tracklist:

* * * * Black Mirror
* * * * * Keep The Car Running
* * * * 1/2 Neon Bible
* * * 1/2 Intervention
* * * 1/2 Black Wave/Bad Ambitions
* * * * Oceans of Noise
* * * 1/2 The Well and the Lighthouse
* * * * (AntiChrist Television Blues)
* * * * Windowsill
* * * 1/2 No Cars Go
* * * * * My Body Is A Cage