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For years,Arcade Firehas tussled with what it means to be a big deal.
But the moves theyve made since then seem to suggest it was a learning experience.
She grew up loving Peter Gabriel; he was into the Cure and Depeche Mode.
(Those folk and orchestral airs might just run in the family.
Wins mother and grandfather were jazz musicians; his grandmother was a swing singer.
Arcade Fire owes much of their dabbling in Caribbean music to Chassagnes Haitian heritage.)
They fell in with an indie-rock milieu via geographical circumstance.
The way he sees it, hes been honing the chops required to become an arena rocker all along.
Arcade Fire is not a band we look to for smirking distance and smoldering ennui.
We want the shit that makes us cry.
They seem aware of that now.
Its a smart reset.
The material ought to crush on tour.
WEtakes a more refined approach to the mind-set of the previous album.
The message is earnest and un-obtuse: Were wounded, but love is the salve.
There are places where the album lays it on a little thick, though.
The muscular synth-rock attempted there was perfected by M83 many moons ago.
The Lightning singles do well because they hit hard and get gone.
The other songs trend looser and longer, some winningly and others not so much.
(WEwears its influencestooclosely sometimes, though.
The album is a little bloated, but itsoundsexquisite.
Its been a long time since Arcade Firereallyseemed to want to be Arcade Fire.
We should enjoy this while it lasts.
