Canadian band Arcade Fire found critical and commercial success immediately upon the release of their debut album Funeral. The band incubated their sound further and became engrossed and enveloped in a darker sound for their sophomore effort, the excellent and underrated Neon Bible. As with nearly all sophomore albums that follow superb debuts, it was met with some lackluster reviews and the reception was dull in comparison, although generally speaking, it was still thought to be good. For many people, their awareness of Arcade Fire culminated during the release of and subsequent Grammy nominations for third album The Suburbs. Although far removed from typical pop, it was easily their most accessible album and took the least amount of work to chew through. Although they have always been multi instrumentalists, their sonic landscape and palate expanded on The Suburbs. With newest album Reflektor, the group has returned after some time off to release their most artistic and longest, deepest album yet. Unfortunately it is far from their most enjoyable or consistent.
Even in saying that, there are multiple hallmarks they can hang their hat on. Album opener and title track “Reflektor” is stunning, providing some of the best moments on the album. Beginning with a tribal beat that sounds like it was recorded on bongos, the song quickly enters territory usually reserved for Cut Copy. However, this is a song that Cut Copy simply wishes they’d written, as this is something far greater than anything on their most recent album, Free Your Mind. The whispered, hushed vocal pairing from Win Butler and Régine Chassagne match the mood of the track flawlessly, it is a perfect fit. The track simultaneously pulls off dance beats, electronic influences, and a more traditional, piano centric Arcade Fire sound that all coalesce and mold together to form one of the preeminent tracks of 2013. The guitar melody stabilizes the song and allows for complete melodiousness.
Even better is “We Exist,” which takes something familiar that nearly every person has once danced to, in “Billie Jean” and parrots it with great success. However, to suggest that “We Exist” is simply a mime of something greater and more successful is disrespectful to the work, as Arcade Fire has emphatically added their signature flair and flavor to the already existing backbone. The vocals again sound excellent, by the end of the song, it barely resembles the Michael Jackson smash hit, and instead approximates something more along the lines of LCD Soundsystem. Ironically enough, this album was produced by none other than James Murphy, lead singer from LCD Soundsystem fame.
His exquisite production is also on exhibit on titular track “Here Comes The Night Time,” with its Vampire Weekend influenced opening bars, it casually nestles into something far more delicate and soothing. Possessing stealthy, unbelievably catchy bass notes and an undeniable keyboard melody, “Here Comes the Night Time” is directed by those instruments like an ensemble working in tidy harmony to emanate an infinitely memorable song. When Butler ponders “If there’s no music, up in heaven, then what’s it for?” it will make many of you wonder that very thing for likely the first time. This is a splendid example of how to turn a longer song into something that is persistently enticing and captivating. Certainly, it is a formula that they should have adhered to more closely on the remainder of the disc. Lamentably, from this point forward the album becomes the musical equivalent of eating a meal without salt and pepper; the rest of the album lacks the flavor, and lush, charming nature of the opening few tracks.
Most egregious and heinous of all is “Hidden Track,” which undoubtedly should have remained as such. It sounds about as interesting as tofu tastes. Ten minutes of ambiance and meagerness drag on and on like a trudge through knee-high mud, or attempting to eat a grisly steak with no teeth. Try and try as you might, it’s just not going anywhere meaningful. The same can be said of “Supersymmetry,” although at least Arcade Fire attempted to actually form something resembling a song with its scattered and erratic pieces. “Normal Person” is yet another track that shouldn’t have made it off of the floor and onto the table. The beginning vocal lines of “do you like rock and roll music? Cause I don’t know if I do,” is eerily comparable to ZZ Top, something I truly never thought I would write. The music that follows is rather uninspired and lazy, and certainly never escalates beyond the boring, predictable chorus and the main guitar riff that sounds like it was cloned from the leftover bits that didn’t make it onto the White Stripes’ Icky Thump.
Even more boring still are “You Already Know” and “Here Comes the Night Time II,” the latter of which fails miserably to upkeep the namesake of the excellent first edition, whilst the former does a poor job of keeping the listener hooked beyond the initial verse and chorus. Reflektor isn’t entirely treasure or trash, as there is some decent middle ground to be found. Tracks such as “Joan of Ark,” complete with Haitian chants, and “Porno,” which exhibits some odd sounds that are unlike anything else on the album, do a nice job of raising the overall quality of the album whereas most of the other tracks dilute what was an incredible opening burst. The album as a whole is reminiscent of a cake that has only baked halfway through: half of it, gooey, sweet and scrumptious, while the other half is burnt, charred and difficult to stomach. If it weren’t for the rather good “Porno” and “Afterlife,” the second half would be instantly forgettable and would pale in comparison to the first batch of tracks.
Quite simply, Reflektor features some of the most grandiose songs in Arcade Fire’s catalog. It also, unfortunately, contains many of the most incomplete, halfhearted and uninspired tracks they’ve ever had to muster up. This album would be greatly, greatly improved if it could receive a nice haircut to clip off all those annoying loose ends. Instead of waiting for that to happen, enjoy Arcade Fire’s Reflektor for what it is, rather than what it isn’t: An imperfect album with mountainous highs that afford the listener with some of the finest moments that music has had to offer in 2013.
--73/100
No comments:
Post a Comment