Artist: Arcade Fire
Record: Neon Bible
Label: Merge
Release date: 2007
Sounds Like: Art Rock, Orchestral Rock, Chamber Rock
Country: Canada
Arcade Fire is a widely famous indie thing that started in the early 2000s introducing an original and refreshing sound to the decade when it was mostly about neo post punk and hybrid independent music. The main members are the couple formed by American singer/song writer Win Butler and his wife Regine Chassagne. Arcade Fire were ejected straight to fame with their first album Funeral, which is considered a cornerstone of the decade and, for many, the best album of the 2000s. Anyways, Neon Bible is their sophomore album that, in the eyes of some fans and critics equally, seems to have faded a little in the discography of this band.
Neon Bible was the album that many people expected to follow Funeral, it gained critical acclaim and had good sales, however, it is not as recognized these days in comparison to The Suburbs and Funeral or even their newest projects.
Neon Bible puts a more mature Arcade Fire into the game, the synths become prominent as do the lyrics.
Regina Says: Let's face it, Arcade Fire is a very Hipster band. Yes, they are. It is one of the hipsterest things in this world and, in paper, they have all the ingredients to gain your hate. First: they are a bunch of dudes playing weird and pretentious instruments and dancing and suffering in stage. Second: their first album is named Funeral...''FUNERAL'', damn (hipsters and emos, just imagine that combination). Third: they are artsy looking fellas that complain about modernism and capitalism covered by an instrumental and lushy sound that makes them even more exasperating. Aaand on the top of that..., they're commies. Yeah, these descriptions set it all for Xmas with the trolls. But, on the other hand, they make (or at least used to create) good music. Very good music.
I have always said it, Funeral sounded like this: imagine that Karl Marx wasn't atheist and anti religion, imagine that, in fact, there was a church funded after Marx existence, what kind of music would happen within that church? Yes, you guessed right: Funeral. Then 3 years later the followers of that church that left, wander in the post modern American desert trying to find themselves in a corrupt world that broke their romantic hearts in tiny pieces.That is Neon Bible. This record is like the dark side of Funeral (remember that Funeral wasn't dark, just depressing). I have a thing with dark sides of famous albums. Funeral has this nostalgic, religious, near death sensation, the sensation of leaving your hometown and forgetting your family that has begun to disappear physically and emotionally. You are sailing to some other land of opportunities. Neon Bible is like landing there, the promised land, full of ominous pop culture, dust, violence and abandon, some fame, some more money than you ever had, but in the end, the same loneliness.
Neon Bible is powerful, its highlights are not as clear as happens with Funeral or the Suburbs, but it is that why it's a more complete record. It is here where AF unleash all the anger, the fear the despair that in Funeral they could only suggest and that completely kidnapped them in Suburbs.
The combo that involves ''Black Wave/Bad Vibrations, Ocean of Noise and The Well and the Lighthouse'' must be regarded as one of the greatest moments in music of the past decade , and more than enough to get the record bought now.
Rate: Highly Recommendable
Hugo says: I agree that this is a very neglected album. It somehow kept Arcade Fire up in the map and left clear that they weren't a band that hit the jackpot with just one record. It is an statement of a band that came to break the ground and they broke it with energy, with no doubts. They did not need more than two records to carve a mark that will stay there forever. But why is Neon Bible a record to pay attention to? I think it is because of its passion and sincerity. In spite Arcade Fire being a pretentious and pompous band, their hearts, in the 2000s, were very clear and transparent. Their art didn't strike us as false, it was obvious that they loved what they were doing, there wasn't a touch of commercial ambition, their achievements were so real and deserved. This emotions and fun they had while recording this splashes all around. It is obvious that each song was made because they loved it, because they had ideas, many ideas and they put out something that they knew was original and gigantic. This is not Goth Rock or Goth Pop or anything like that, but it could rank as that, somehow Neon Bible evolves into a beast that is aware of the end of the times, the final best days of our species happened in the 2000s, after that the 2010s made us sterile and the 2020s will be the end of everything. And Arcade Fire knew it and if Neon Bible is the statement of that, I'd be glad. What a horrendous and beautiful statement it is
Rate: Exceptional