First thoughts on Neon Bible
On the Neon Bible's most anthemic track, the drums may as well have been looped for all their verve, and the track ends with a cliched double snare hit followed by a crash. It almost negates the otherworldly pipe organ, which delivers an unbelievable emotional lift. And I miss the group chorus. I want those seven or eight voices together. While his more controlled vocals are employed to great effect, it was the singer's desperate top-of-the-range yelp on the last album that was its emotional hook.
Despite these comments, I cheer the Arcade Fire for releasing a great album that manages not to repeat its great predessor. The songwriting and arrangements shine like the memory of your first kiss. There is the country kick of (antichrist television blues), the celtic folk-influenced Keep the Car Running, which reproduces the Arcade Fire march on uncommon acoustic instruments, the 80s shot through an orchestral swamp of Black Wave/Bad Vibrations, and the early morning dirge of the title track sounds like it was recorded so as not to wake children asleep in the next room.
If there was doubt or caution before, it's now apparent we can anoint them as the next great band.
4 Comments:
yeah...
awwwweesoome.
it's one of those albums....kind of what you were saying about the vocals...that is so much better experienced live. they recorded it all in a church and i think that captures the feeling well, but not as well as if you were seeing them live...where everyone is singing along. at least they DID do the church thing instead of just recording it in a studio. i need to see them live. or... they need to release an album of some random show where they played neon bible in its entirety. definitely. but yeah...
springsteen
I'd love to see them live too. They played the Southgate House years ago (in 04?) but at the time I didn't know who they were so I missed it. They have videos on youtube, one where they're on stage with Bowie.
i can't imagine seeing them at the southgate house now.
they played on SNL a few weeks ago, and as treacherous as it was to sit through an episode of SNL, it was probably the best performance i've ever seen on the show.
i should find out in a few weeks if i'm in daap...word is...a friend of a friend got a rejection letter a few weeks ago and i haven't heard anything, and the school said to wait until the end of march for the acceptance letter.
good luck..
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