Album Review: Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

When a band's first release is considered to be a pinnacle of music for the times, where does the band go from there? It has happened before to indie rock with outfits such as Pavement and The Strokes, but their anti-success temperament has given them the freedom to shrug it off without giving in to obsessing over topping their brilliant first effort. The Arcade Fire on the other hand is the antithesis of the slacker ideal; they are earnest to the point of being self-justified in their grandiosity and make no apologies for getting weepy about their music. They are the type of musicians that relish the nature of achieving their goal of success, then surpassing their greatness. That emotional attachment makes sense for an album that accurately and effectively addressed the pain of loss and the subsequent fear of living life like their debut album Funeral. But we are talking about The Suburbs now and the obsession over this theme seems heavy handed.

The self-titled kickoff to The Suburbs begins appropriately accessible, like a calm weekend drive with no real direction. The duality of singer Win Butler's feelings on his reoccurring theme pops up right away. Desiring a better life for his family yet questioning his choices is a feeling that is easily understood. He immediately regrets his decisions in the next overlapping tracks "Ready To Start" and "Modern Man".  Butler doesn't strive for poetry exclaiming that businessmen drink his blood in the second track, then settling for a life endlessly waiting as one of the masses in the third. These work as praise to a father who sacrificed dreams for comfort and are handled with a compassionate voice. It is with the next tracks that set forth a string of songs that become too bloated to keep the theme afloat. The best of the middle half such as "City With No Children" and "Half Light II (No Celebration)" have enough of a singular sound that makes the weighty middle listenable. On the other side is "Rococo" that pokes a hypocritical stick at the arty elite using aggressively ineffective strings and drums. "Month Of May" is The Arcade Fire's interpretation of punk rock, a song going on two minutes too long that would have been better placed as a b-side. After that, The Suburbs comes together again with its best stretch of music. "Wasted Hours" keeps it simple with a country/western chord over plaintive lyrics for a hopeful future. A catchy "Deep Blue" opens "We Used To Wait", the album's representative that would have fit best on Funeral.  The slow burn of insistent piano, the swirl of strings and the lyrical ode to patience and enjoying life's winding path make this the album's appropriate crescendo. However, the album's finale tracks "Sprawl" are exactly that, a preamble of desolation introducing a remodeled 80's anthem that would not seem so awkward for a band that didn't take their art so seriously.

The topic of a mundane suburban life has been utilized in pop music since the Talking Heads mused on letting their days go by. However, this subject of comfortable living is often one that is discounted or even vilified by the discerning open-minded artist. The Suburbs however seems conflicted about it's perspective on simpler times, choosing to be forlorn in one song then disdainful in the next. The missing element on The Suburbs isn't the lack the narrator of choosing a side. The album shares the same problem as the suburbs itself; the 16 tracks intentionally run on like tract housing in a 60's era subdivision with the only difference in the buildings being the shade of beige. The best songs on The Suburbs are the ones that got past the front door to best represent the album's theme with grace and simplicity. Harsh, yes. Yet The Suburbs was made in a post-Funeral world with no sophomore slump to use as an excuse. There is flashes of the lightning that was caught in 2004. In 2010 The Arcade Fire are being held to the highest standard and my guess is that they would have it no other way.

Purchase The Arcade Fire -The Suburbs here.