Their debut album, 2004’s Funeral, had been universally adored, and such was the weight of expectation that preceded this follow-up, it was initially viewed in some quarters as something of a let-down. As if a great record somehow wasn’t enough from Arcade Fire. And Neon Bible is great – in its scope, ambition and attention to detail. It’s also got legs: several months on from its release, and with each listen, its stature continues to grow, its depths becoming clearer. Written and recorded through much of 2006, it didn’t find Arcade Fire attempting to reinvent their musical wheel (perhaps the source of disappointment for some), but rather took the blueprint of Funeral and developed and expanded upon it.
The sound is big, the songs built on layer upon layer of instrumentation – a 30-piece military choir here, the pipe organ of Montreal’s Église St-Jean-Baptiste there. It is, too, subsumed with a sense of apocalyptic dread, as bombs fall and black waves of violence cascade around its protagonists. This, clearly, is the world for frontman Win Butler post-9/11, one where “the planes keep crashing always two by two” ((Antichrist Television Blues)) and “I don’t want to live in America no more” (Windowsill). Yet for all this, the album’s most affecting image is also its most humane – “My body is a cage that keeps me from dancing with the one I love” (My Body Is A Cage). In time, Butler may want to reflect upon the human condition more. Ultimately, though, great records are made by great songs, and Neon Bible has riches aplenty: sweeping, surging epics delivered with a real sense of power and passion. The lasting impression it all leaves is that no one this year tried harder or reached further than Arcade Fire.
Wrong again Q, PUZZLE by BIFFY CLYRO is the best album of the year.
Posted by B Fyffe at 17:11:54 | 18/12/2007
ah now.. it good but really.. hold it next to neon bible or in rainbows and it doesnt look as shiny..
