The Arcade Fire: The Suburbs Review

In our society every generation strives to find something which will equal or excel the great things of the past. In music we far too often label bands as “the next”, whether it be “The next Beatles” or “The next Led Zeppelin”, we’re never content with a band standing alone on its own merit. We build so much hype around a bands debut release just to watch them whither away after the dreaded sophomore slump. We watched Oasis and The Arctic Monkeys, the so-called second coming of The Beatles fade away, we watched The Strokes who were supposed to be saviors of rock never living up to their fabled debut, we watched Coldplay win over the hearts of millions just to watch the world turn their backs on them as fast as the world realized how lame Fred Durst was, we watched The Vines, the so-called second coming of grunge disappear completely, etc, etc, etc. We continue to throw bands on a pedestal far too early in their careers, and at what point will we learn?

Then comes The Arcade Fire. The uber-hip website Pitchfork, which has made and broken bands placed The Arcade Fire on top of that pedestal when they lauded their debut, “It's taken perhaps too long for us to reach this point where an album is at last capable of completely and successfully restoring the tainted phrase "emotional" to its true origin. Dissecting how we got here now seems unimportant. It's simply comforting to know that we have arrived.” They praised The Arcade Fire on practically every conceivable level. Recently, the BBC made perhaps one of the boldest statements in regards to their latest album, The Suburbs, “You could call it their OK Computer. But it’s arguably better than that.” Suffice it to say, The Arcade Fire certainly hasn’t been lacking critical acclaim. However, is all this hype warranted? Are we once again building up a band just to watch their quick and ultimate demise?

I suppose there is no definitive answer to this question, but if any band of the past decade has lived up to the hype machine, it is The Arcade Fire. Their debut album Funeral was astonishing, their sophomore effort Neon Bible was nothing short of great and here we have their third release The Suburbs which is an absolute masterpiece.

The Suburbs as you would expect, is Win Butlers accounts of his life growing up in the suburbs. His stories carry a mood of despair while airing a flair of optimism and a youthful naivety. On “Rococo” Butler goes on the attack and slams hipsters, “They will eat right out of your hand / Using great big words that they don’t understand” and “They seem wild but they are so tame / They’re moving towards you with their colors all the same.” The criticism may turn many off - because certainly hipsters are an easy target, but surely somebody has to put them in their place. Despite the seemingly negative accounts of his life in the suburbs, he has no regrets, the closing track “The Suburbs (Continued)” relays the message, “If I could have it back / All the time that we wasted / I’d only waste it again.”

Clocking in at over sixty minutes, unlike the shorter and more accessible albums Funeral and Neon Bible, The Suburbs blossoms with every listen. The album lacks the overt intensity previously seen by the Arcade Fire, but the intensity is replaced by a subdued passion that rings just as loud as when Butler is shouting his rallying cries to children on "Wake Up", and at no point are we left longing for that kind of forcefulness. The title track and first single on the album may be the only viable single. Nothing stands out on the album as a radio friendly tune, while at the same time, The Suburbs as a whole is simply unforgettable. The majority of the album drifts along with a low-key orchestral majesty that only The Arcade Fire can deliver. It’s grandiose while remaining unpretentious and beautiful while remaining melancholy. The Arcade Fire toy with emotions with a kind of prowess that is simply uncanny. Each and every song resonates on both lyrical and musical levels.

The Arcade Fire were caught up in the hype as much as any band of the past decade, and while we’ve watched countless bands fall victim to it, The Arcade Fire continued going on their own path with confidence and vigor. The Suburbs is a culmination of their journey and one that clearly shows their growth. You won’t hear a “Power Out” on The Suburbs and you most certainly won’t hear a “Wake Up”, and without a track that carries as much weight as the aforementioned classics on Funeral, The Suburbs is an understated masterpiece. The album gives me chills every time I put it on the turntable and I find it hard to believe that it will every quit doing just that.

Grade: A