4. Arcade Fire - Reflektor
At this stage in their careers, Arcade Fire are an easy target. The disconnec(kt)ed will say that their songwriting is more clinical now in the want to create something majestic, widescreen but one that ticks all boxes and bases.
I would tend to agree with this argument. Certainly if one revisits 'Funeral' its a more natural effort, and also one that lends itself to a type of familial, almost bucolic charm (see 'Backseat'). Now egalitarian principles are melanged with more cloying themes of isolation and loss.
While the band deal with themes in a more direct nature than before the songs that nourish the lyrics are as seductive and inventive as any in the band's repertoire. This is especially true of the album's second half which flows with the type of grace and weightlessness that 'Abbey Road' has always been championed for. For me the narrative works also. Its timeless and romantic without being sickly or overbearing. Stories of attachment through disattachment and visa-versa are interwoven to the 13 minute combo of 'Awful Sound' and 'It's Never Over'.
By the time 'Supersymmetry' closes in a quietly meditative trance, a buzz here, a scratch there, the return to a spacious sanctuary seems well earned. I personally have forgotten that I have been listening to a 70 minute plus magnum opus.
How many albums filled with a multitude of styles and themes feel so weightless, where weightless is a huge compliment? Very few in recent years and that's why the forced greatness of Arcade Fire is still greatness and not the sound of a band out of touch with the world around it.
Key Tracks: Afterlife, Here Comes The Night Time, It's Never Over (Hey Orpheus)
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