Arcade Fire “Funeral” (2004)
Arcade Fire seem to have had 'fiery' beginnings, with most of the band
other than founder Win Butler and Régine Chassagne quitting and/or being
replaced in the journey from formation to this, their debut album.
I remember seeing Aracde Fire on the televised footage of either Reading
or Leeds fest when I was living in the UK. A friend opined that they
seemed like enthusiastic amateurs. Playing pretty basic music, but with
so much gusto and so many people on stage that it kind of carried
things along. Possibly a harsh assessment given that this album topped a
lot of end of decade top ten lists (just behind Radiohead’s “Kid A”).
Myself, I don’t know that it’s worthy of those plaudits. I feel as
though it’s a competent enough indie-rock album with a few extra
embellishments from strings, accordion and additional percussion
touches; but it’s not necessarily better than a lot of the other albums
on this list so far.
The gusto/bombast mentioned above is definitely on show with a song like “Wake Up” which seems to have been designed for a big audience sing-along. Huge but simple group vocals that are pretty much a chant.
Songs like “Neighbourhood #4 (7 Kettles)” and “Crown of Love” offer up subtler moments, whereas a song like “In the backseat” starts small and builds.
I wasn’t really an Arcade Fire fan going into this, and that hasn’t
really changed. It’s not bad music, but it’s also not something I feel
compelled to revisit or investigate further.
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