Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (Again)

I love how this album has been able to grab my attention and keep it firmly held; and yet, in retrospect, I’ve held it close to my heart the entire time as well. It’s the first album since 2007 (tell you all about that album later) that I’ve fallen head over heels for and although I’ve battled against it with some other awesome stuff (I mean, come on, that Janelle Monáe video?) and still, it’s the one I come back to, every single time. So before you know it – and let me apologize beforehand – but I just might post about every single song when all is said is done.

Here is “Sprawl I (Flatland)”, a song that is devoted entirely to opening a broken teenager’s heart only to find a desolate soul. The song is the bridge between what might be the album’s smoothest transitions and at less than three minutes long, it lulls you into its darkness with fantastic results. Imagery is key here: the messages about driving endlessly into the sprawl, living on the buried nostalgia that should stay, well, buried, the darkness that contrasts against the lights in the reflectors, and recalling old memories with bitter distaste. My favorite part, easily, is where he admits that he finally has something of his own, something to give and then still ask what the point of it all really is:


One thing I wanted to really point out was how beautiful the band actually sounds on the album. For starters, it’s a huge band with various members and Owen Pallett even shows up to lend strings on here. At the core is Win Butler and Régine Chassagne’s vocals and how they always melt into each other; so much so, that even when they switch things up (when going from the aforementioned song into the previously posted about second part of the sprawl) it still sounds impeccably cohesive.

And so, I imagine the only logical step was to post the opener, the one that kicks it all of. Butler described the album as “a mix of Depeche Mode and Neil Young” and those influences are definitely all over The Suburbs. A lot of it reminds me of what Dylan sounded like when he was recording music for Wonder Boys but this song is the epitome of what this gorgeous album is made of. Check out the somber lyrics about trying to understand why someone would want a daughter at a young age and how it hit homes, harder, for some.
- Bryan