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ARCADE FIRE Neon Bible (Sonovox/Universal) |
 CANADA'S Most Intriguing Rock Band? Heck, with Neon Bible, Time may just be convinced to put the Montreal-based collective on its cover again! And this time, the headline would surely have to be revised to read: World's Most Intriguing Rock Band. Hip music rags have labelled Arcade Fire's music baroque pop and that's fair enough, I guess. The organ is, after all, upfront in the mix on most tracks. And yeah, there is a liberal use of counterpoint melodies. Just one thing I don't get, though... when was Bruce Springsteen ever considered baroque pop? I don't doubt that the folks who helped Neon Bible reach No.2 on the Billboard 200 are the same ones who find nourishment in the eccentric neo-psychedelia of outfits like The Polyphonic Spree and The Album Leaf. Yet, if you were to eliminate the organ, choral harmonies and grandiosity from Arcade Fire's sophomore LP, you'd be left with a pastoral, earthy set of tunes that bears a striking resemblance to the 10 cuts on Darkness on the Edge of Town. Lyrically, too, the parallels are startling. On the title track, for example, frontman/chief song-writer Win Butler laments the fact that every generation strives to better the last only to find that there is no escaping fate and history. It is, of course, a tragedy that Springsteen first bemoaned some 30 years earlier on Adam Raised a Cain - "You inherit the sins, you inherit the flames." It's often said that imitation is the highest compliment and if your aim is to explore the disenchantment of a generation that shuffles its feet under the heavy clouds of war and diminishing spirituality, you could do worse than to borrow from Springsteen. Still, what makes Neon Bible unique is that Butler presents the old tales in a post-modern setting. His plaintive cries for reason are focused not at blue-collar everymen but an MTV generation that's content to lounge on beanbags and elect pop stars instead of leaders (Antichrist Television Blues) while humanity methodically destroys itself (Black Mirror and Intervention). Also in contrast to Springsteen, there is no redemption offered at the end. Only simmering, seething disillusionment. It's depressing no doubt. But wonderfully delicious all the same. Surely the best record so far this year. |
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