The Suburbs by Arcade Fire

 

What can we say about this album that hasn’t already been said? It’s a Grammy-nominated international best-seller that has consistently placed on everyone’s end-of-year lists. Chances are you’ve already heard it. The NME accurately compares this album to R.E.M.’s Automatic for the People, “an album that combines mass accessibility with much greater ambition.” And that’s exactly right. There’s something here for everyone, and that’s why everyone likes it.

 

Still, remember that Arcade Fire are one of those bands—like R.E.M. and Radiohead before them—that surprised everyone with their ascent to stardom. Our rehearsals have been full of conversations about how a band like Arcade Fire ends up playing Madison Square Garden. Not because they don’t deserve it, or because it shouldn’t happen, but just because experience has taught us that this sort of thing is unlikely to happen to our favorite bands. It is the exception, not the rule.

 

In any case, The Suburbs is a great album full of ambition, yes, but also just filled with good songs that surprise in interesting ways, from the bouncy Beatles pop of the album’s opener and titular track, to the tricky time changes in “Modern Man,” to the simple Ramones buzz of “Month of May,” to the riff-laden “City with No Children,” to the now-familiar dramatic crescendos of songs like “Suburban War.” Arcade Fire clearly wanted to make a record that would burst through the bubble of youthful cynicism, and given the popularity of the album, they seem to have succeeded. “So young, so young, so much pain for someone so young,” Butler sings. “Well, I know it’s heavy, I know it ain’t light, but how you gonna lift it with your arms folded tight?”