28th October 2013
London, Blackstock Rd
A couple of days after the Everythingnowness aftermath, a journey home to AF's fourth album released 4 years ago
What's the common denominator between Joan of Arc, Orpheus and pornography? One could find out the answer on Amazon and Itunes today from 8 a.m. The answer is tied in one single word: Reflektor. About one month ago, the indie band had launched a fantastic marketing buzz with the leaking of their single, named as their album. From the start, you knew Arcade Fire had hit the mark; the disco-inspired song takes you to a strange journey, through the looking-glass. The Sympathy for the Devilesque percussions, the combination of lyricism and rhythmic beats, the length of the song: it was Arcade Fire as you had never heard them before.
What about the whole album then? Reflektor contains 13 songs divided into 2 CDs; its 1h25 mins had already been much written about, by dissatisfied journalists and blasé critics who were probably annoyed by the laudatory reviews of the album's 'accidental' leak on Youtube two days ago. To be fair, when I enjoy a musician's work, and if the material is good, I pay little attention to their ways of advertising or their interviews, for fear of changing my opinion on their artistic production. And this is maybe what music reviewers should do; stop arguing about the band's digital campaign and actually listen to the bloody record.
True, there are some songs that might be too long and over-dramatic in their ambition. But Arcade Fire will always manage to surprise us: this Hawaï, Jamaican song-inspired album is radically different from the previous one. It veers towards the electro, rockabilly, glam-rock and reggae while the bewitching, immediately recogniseable voice of Win Butler maintains the continuity between Funeral, Neon Bible and The Suburbs. 'We Exist' and 'Here Comes the Nighttime' are more violent than expected, nevertheless establishing a close connection with The Suburbs' 'Month of May', but with more subtlety. 'You Already Know' 's use of bass made me ecstatic; with this song, Win Butler and Regine Chassagne explore a more consensual use of music: plain pop. Reflektor, though, is darker. It is about alientation, the Underworld, madness and deception.
The best songs? 'Joan of Arc', 'It's Never Over', 'Afterlife', the paradoxically themed 'Awful Song', while 'Supersymmetry', previously used for the movie soundtrack of Her by Spike Jonze, beautifully closes the album on a nostalgic note. For someone who enjoys points of contact between the arts, alluding to the Orpheus myth naturally made sense because, despite what a blogger said, Reflektor tells a story. A story of lies, mirrors and gateways through other worlds.
True, Reflektor might appear conceptual, psychedelic or over-elaborate for those who keep saying Funeral contains their best material, or to people whose first approach of the band was through this album. To my mind, its creation seemed completely logical following Arcade Fire's career path. Exploring alien sounds, attempting to produce originality, this is exactly what I'm looking for when listenning to a new record.
It seems to me albums now function as companion pieces: Funeral and The Suburbs on the one hand, Neon Bible and Reflektor on the other.
And this is why I cannot wait for a fifth one.
True, there are some songs that might be too long and over-dramatic in their ambition. But Arcade Fire will always manage to surprise us: this Hawaï, Jamaican song-inspired album is radically different from the previous one. It veers towards the electro, rockabilly, glam-rock and reggae while the bewitching, immediately recogniseable voice of Win Butler maintains the continuity between Funeral, Neon Bible and The Suburbs. 'We Exist' and 'Here Comes the Nighttime' are more violent than expected, nevertheless establishing a close connection with The Suburbs' 'Month of May', but with more subtlety. 'You Already Know' 's use of bass made me ecstatic; with this song, Win Butler and Regine Chassagne explore a more consensual use of music: plain pop. Reflektor, though, is darker. It is about alientation, the Underworld, madness and deception.
The best songs? 'Joan of Arc', 'It's Never Over', 'Afterlife', the paradoxically themed 'Awful Song', while 'Supersymmetry', previously used for the movie soundtrack of Her by Spike Jonze, beautifully closes the album on a nostalgic note. For someone who enjoys points of contact between the arts, alluding to the Orpheus myth naturally made sense because, despite what a blogger said, Reflektor tells a story. A story of lies, mirrors and gateways through other worlds.
True, Reflektor might appear conceptual, psychedelic or over-elaborate for those who keep saying Funeral contains their best material, or to people whose first approach of the band was through this album. To my mind, its creation seemed completely logical following Arcade Fire's career path. Exploring alien sounds, attempting to produce originality, this is exactly what I'm looking for when listenning to a new record.
It seems to me albums now function as companion pieces: Funeral and The Suburbs on the one hand, Neon Bible and Reflektor on the other.
And this is why I cannot wait for a fifth one.
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