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The Arcade Fire cracked open their Neon Bible last weekend, first in Ottawa (at band member Richard Parry's old high school), then in Montreal, in the basement of a Polish Catholic church. The shows featured mostly new material, with a handful of Funeral offerings — and while the band was obviously just getting oiled up, there's plenty to be excited about.
Only the Arcade Fire can put a flashing fluorescent neon Bible at the back of the stage in a church basement and still have their show come off feeling big and humble at the same time.
Following up an album like Funeral was a tough task. People looking for weak spots in the new album will either say "it's not as good as Funeral" or "it's too much like Funeral."
photo by Andrew Rose
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And having heard (live, anyway) a big chunk of the record, I can't help but wonder whether the band is deliberately courting that negative criticism early on, while getting ready to floor everyone. Consider that the two singles that have been legitimately released so far, "Intervention" and "Black Mirror," are most prone to the above criticisms.
"Intervention" is a gorgeous song, but it's easy enough to slip it in among one of Funeral's mournful epics and dismiss it as "been there, done that." That'd be a mistake, but the point is, if there's any song on Neon Bible that sounds Funeral-like, it's this one.
And then there's "Black Mirror." You've got to give the band credit for having the guts to lead off with such a creepy-crawly prologue. It's fitting, in a way, for the first song on the album to sound like a leviathan sliding up out of a dying ocean. Back from the dead; shake off the ashes. (And "un-deux-trois/des mirroirs noir" sounds pretty damn cool). But the masses aren't going to find a dancefloor hook in this one, either.
But screw hooks. The fact is, the band played six other new songs in their Montreal show that suggest they've got tons of new ideas that will be huge. I still haven't heard any of them on record, but rest assured there are chapters and chapters ready to be digested.
Neon Bible is dark, maybe even darker than Funeral, but there's a confidence and wisdom in these songs that reinforce the image I think we all have of this band — and Win Butler especially — as being able to channel old archetypes and sad realities and make them redemptive. There were moments last week, like in "Antichrist Television Blues," where it seemed like the song being sung had been written a long time ago, and was only just being remembered now. And I'm almost positive it's about Jessica Simpson's father, Joe.
Musically, there's a lot to be excited about. "Oceans of Noise" has these brilliant and subtle lyrics about the concept of choice, and sounds like godspeed! wailing over classic Velvet Underground (and its outro is the perfect segue for "Rebellion"). "Antichrist Television Blues" is a Springsteen-like epic. My favourite of the new songs, "My Body is a Cage," starts with a classic drum and organ riff that comes off like Yo La Tengo and ends with a heavy orchestral triumph that sounds like Sigur Ros doing RJD2's "Ghostwriter." Actually, scratch that — it sounds like the Arcade Fire wrote a bunch more absolutely amazing songs.
Here's a taste of "My Body is a Cage":
I'm living in an age
That calls darkness light
Though my language is dead
Still the shapes fill my head
I'm living in an age
Whose name I don't know
Though this fear keep me moving
Still my hearts beats so slow
My body is a cage
That keeps me from dancing
With the one that I love
But my mind holds they key
Standing next to me
Neon Bible won't be a light read, but it may save a few more souls.
Posted January 2007
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