Review:

on 2011-02-20 CharlesMartel Said:

A warning. Don't listen to this on your iPod. That was how I first listened to it and I really did not like it. You have to give the sound the space to move. Narrowing it so that it fits down those little wires and straight into your ears does not do this any justice. It needs room to breathe and grow. It needs a CD player and the ability to expand into the whole room. This is why it took me so long to get into this. My iPod was not providing the best means of listening to it and I could not get a true feel for the album. Once it hit the CD player, it all began to slot into place. Now I am gaining a better appreciation for it. Tracks, like Neighbourhood (Laika) which I previously did not take to have come into their own. The music just sounds so much better this way. I am now going to delete it from my iPod.

But if that was the only issue I had with this album, then I would find be quite happy. However, I cannot honestly say that I am. When this album came out, it was treated by the hipsters with the sort of reverence and adulation normally reserved for Radiohead. A number of people were guilty of the same practice and I have no doubt that one of the reasons that this album is so highly rated is becasue of the bandwagon jumpers.

Anyone who pays any attention to musical developments of the past few years will note that there is a preponderance of metal in the last few years. But there are also a number of albums which have become status symbols all of their own - hipsters who think that they occupy a special place where their musical taste is exalted above all others because they are "in the know". Membership is simple. All you have to do is heap praise on "In the Aeroplane over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel; "Loveless" by My Bloody Valentine; "Revolver" by the Beatles; and (above all) laud to the skies anything by Radiohead. These people can be found on many music websites indulging in mutual lovefests on any one of the multiplicity of glowing paeans to Radiohead.

Theese people have decided that Arcade Fire are a fit subject for its members to love and praise. "Funeral" is a fit album for them to shower with love and propel, with their collective adulation, up their collective circle jerk. And that is where it sits. I come to this album with a clear mind. I listen to it, I like it, but it is not going to change my life. It is one of that ever growing number of albums in my collection which sits fairly and squarely in the middkle of the bell curve of my ratings. Good but not great. Worth listening to, but not something which should be able to dominate your CD player.

So, while this album is good, it is not THAT good. Arcade Fire are not the saviours of modern indie rock. Nor are they the only band fit and capable of assuming the mantle of Radiohead. They are, sadly, not going to sweep the commercialised radio-friendly mainstream into the dustbin and finally bring the alternative into the limelight it has always deserved.

Like a lot of Canadian bands of the moment, they seem too pre-occupied with some sort of navel gazing to realise that actually there is a record-buying public out there. Yes you will get critical acclaim for your first album, but you will have to follow it. Much as I have grown to appreciate this album (though I still find it a hard listen at times) I feel that the Arcade Fire will ultimately disappoint.
Rating: 7/10