Arcade Fire: Funeral

Back in March, I went to see a little Irish band called "U2" in San Diego. For the opening music, before the band comes out, they played Arcade Fire's "Wake Up" over the PA. The energy this tune seemed to bring to the crowd, the unity, made it grow on me, and upon my return to the East Coast, I stopped at Newbury Comics and picked up this album at $9.99.

I gave it a listen, and besides "Wake Up," I was not hugely impressed... at first.

Two weeks, maybe three, passed, and I gave the album another go. And another. And another. In one day, I listened to the album 5 times. It really grew on me. What initially turned me off to this album may also be what slowly grew inside of me and made me love this album: the band does not really pay attention to the traditional song structure. Its a simple thing, I know, but its odd to not hear it at first.

After dozens and dozens of listening, this is definitely up in my Top 10 purchases this year.

There ar 4 tracks titled Neighborhood#1-4, and each are quite different, despite titling. Neighborhood #1, Neighborhood #3, Crown of Love, Wake up (obviously), and Haiti rank as my faves on the album, but the whole thing is quite solid, if different.

In the end: If you have time to invest in this album, its worth it. Its odd structuring makes it difficult to digest, at first, but truly a good album. Sometimes, just sometimes, those silly Canadians do something very right.