Highlights: Reflektor, Here Comes The Night Time, Normal Person,
Joan Of Arc, Afterlife
If there is an
art-related release in the whole of 2013 that’s been more wildly anticipated
than Morrissey’s autobiography, look no further than Arcade Fire’s new album.
Christ people went mad over this one. I don’t even know what part of the
demographic was more annoying; those who were so determined to hate it, those who
were bursting with premature love (best since Funeral, etc.), or those who kept repeating how disinterested they
were in the whole thing. I’d argue that the last group seemed particularly
exasperating: if you are so disinterested, get off of it already.
And besides, I think
Arcade Fire have generated enough excitement over the years to justify some
kind of interest on the part of music-listening world. At the very least they
don’t just write songs. There’s artistic growth. There’s development. There’s a
song called “Porno”. There’s James Murphy. And there’s of course that album
cover.
Speaking of which, that’s
as far as I will go with it. Let’s just assume we can all see it and that no
one is ever going to beat it by placing Mona Lisa or Venus de Milo on the front
sleeve. So, after the fact, was it worth it, the hype, the anti-hype and all
that other cheap nonsense that doesn’t have anything to do with the actual
music? It is a hands-down yes for me, Reflektor
indeed being Arcade Fire’s big, initially misunderstood Kid A moment. Because at first there’s going to be confusion. Rolling Stone will give it the perfect
rating. Others will give it a cautious grade of seven or seven-and-a-half. The Guardian will let it share the same
measly 3 stars (!) with Katy Perry’s (!) latest. Etc., etc. And presently I
feel like I’m standing ten inches from an elephant while trying to figure out
what it is that I’m seeing.
It takes an effort.
Because at this point it’s hard to say whether these songs are better than the
ones that made up The Suburbs. I’m guessing
not. If you strip a track as brilliant as the title track of its dense sound,
of its groovy instrumental section towards the end (possibly my favourite thing
about the song), you won’t be looking at much really. The melody is nice, but
“Rococo”? “Modern Man”? “Suburban War”? And yet such is the nature of music (music
as an art form) that goes beyond elements and details. The plot is undercooked,
the actors are a little all over the place and the locations feel wrong – but
the film is just so damn overwhelming. At first you try to make sense of all
that mess that seems so intriguing, intricate, inventive. Reflektor sounds like some kind of a patchy kitchen-sink drama
created by a truly intelligent mind. There’s just so much going on here; with
James Murphy as an unlikely supervisor, it’s dancey and funky and groovy and
never lightweight. And thankfully – regardless of sound changes, it still
sounds like Arcade Fire: driving and grandiose. Lengthy, too, but when “Normal
Person” (lyrically this one overdoes the pretentious element ever so slightly)
rocks so much, “Here Comes The Night Time” offers so much blood-pumping
variation and the heartbreaking and anthemic “Afterlife” sounds so affecting –
I’m ready to take it all in. It’s intense and wonderful, even if by the end of
it I might still (sigh) prefer the more concise and, when you come to think of
it, no less impressive Funeral…
When you review stuff on
a regular basis, you sometimes have to leave the reading, listening (hell, on
occasion even watching) part of it for the streets and the underground. I know
it worked so well back when The Suburbs
was released and I just kept it on repeat. But here’s the odd thing: I never,
ever get the urge to listen to Reflektor
the moment I leave my house. There is something to it I guess, and I refuse to
see it as a problem. Because every time I found I had some time to spare, sat
in a chair, put my headphones on and pressed play – Reflektor sounded fantastic.
9/10
No comments:
Post a Comment