ARCADE FIRE
WE
Rambunctious as a bull in a china shop but wearing skinny jeans and an assymetrical haircut, Arcade Fire is the quintessential noughties indie rock band with a hazardous name. Perhaps one of the last arena worthy bands that used to be cool and still are; with the uncanny ability to dive into painfully beautiful cacophonous turnarounds and emerge from the opposite end of where the song started and back again. Not in a Spiritualized jazz freak-out way, but in a swinging from the chandeliers, mood-swingy way.
The Lightning I, II is the new single (actually two songs put together), featuring all the characteristics of their sound: sustained open chords dramatically introducing bright cinematic Lydian mode passing tones, before the lyrics carry us on an emotional journey to the top of Win Butler’s proverbial mountain. When suddenly, a tornado appears in the video, which is a perfect metaphor for Arcade Fire’s music in general.
The low points are low, but the high points have no ceiling from which to swing from the chandeliers. Instead, they are hurling across the sky at the speed of light, harkening back to their anthemic early days. Back then, there was a chance that hope could pop off like a champagne cork any minute. Our lives might have been falling apart but it didn’t matter. The drastic intervals of Arcade Fire’s melodies and bouncing rhythms made everything right. Tears of joy were just around the corner. This single brings those feelings back.
Above is Win Butler’s mission statement on WE.
WE is out May 6 on Columbia Records.
Posted March 18 2022