Release Date: August 3, 2010
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
The Suburbs is a miniature epic of sorts: it focuses on the sometimes glorious, sometimes inglorious, but most of the time, courageous lives of suburban kids. Win Butler, lead singer, guitarist, and mandolinist, and his wife, Regine Chassagne, craft one of the most emotional, truly inspiring albums, trailing only a number of albums that do better in that sense (including their debut album Funeral).
Each of Arcade Fire’s albums is extremely focused on a particular emotion, a certain period in one’s life that they convey beautifully through their music. Funeral was written to describe the feelings the two main members of the band had when they lost family close to them, and tells younger people to “wake up” to the realities of life; Neon Bible references dark dealings with personal angst, both with the church and with parents; and their newest effort, The Suburbs, describes the feelings present in suburban, unknowing teens who look on from their own world with their own feelings and ideas. Although I break up this album into groups to review it, let it be known that The Suburbs listened to all the way through from start to end is recommended. It is an experience that cannot be matched by any other album nowadays. Each track leads musically, emotionally, and beautifully into the next.
“They told me we’d never survive.” The second line Win Butler sings on this album sums up the feeling of the entire album. In the title track, “The Suburbs,” a piano riff combined with soft, vulnerable vocals contribute to a beautiful song about how the life that these suburban kids dreamed of were destroyed as time passed. “I want a daughter while I’m still young, I want to hold her hand, show her some beauty, before all this damage is done.” These incredible lyrics combined with the spooky sound Arcade Fire crafts so well make for one of the best tracks off the album. Another dark track, except in this case, more gritty, is “Month of May,” where the “kids are all standing with their arms folded tight.” The song plays like a classic rock song, with simple, but strong, guitar and bass, becoming rather linear.
On this album, Arcade Fire touches on the loneliness of the suburbs and the uncertainty that faces the teenagers within. “Ready to Start” talks about how the narrator would “rather be alone than pretend I feel alright.” A cymbal-laden drum line and constant electric guitar chords help describe this disquietude. “Empty Room” is a perfect example of a song that pertains to all young people around the same age and in the same point in life as I happen to be. “When I’m by myself, I can be myself, and my life is going, but I don’t know where.” With close harmonies over fast drums and gorgeous violins, this song has potential to be an anthem. The very next track, “City With No Children,” is another Indie rock song, a genre that I can safely say Arcade Fire has mastered. This song, unlike others, has a more distinct guitar riff, which, when paired with a minimal percussion (in this case, handclaps), has a greater effect on the listener. “I hide inside of my private prison,” displays this loneliness yet again, a feeling Win Butler obviously believes exists in suburban kids. Continuing this theme is “Half Light I”: “our heads are just houses, without enough windows.” The minds of these suburban kids are locked up in windowless houses, but when they recognize this half light, they begin to actually think for themselves and let these minds run free “in the streets.” The next song, “Deep Blue,” is another acoustic song that Win Butler accompanies so well with his sweet voice, and like the other songs on the album, where this song begins soft and sweet soon picks up pace and finishes with a chip on its shoulder, with a strong conviction: “here in my place and time/and here in my own skin, I can finally begin./Let the century pass me by, standing under the night sky/tomorrow means nothing.” The song eventually fades out with a strong low note on the piano and guitar fuzz.
“The Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” definitely deserves its own paragraph. It is the most upbeat song on The Suburbs, and it sounds like an anthem for teenage girls who “need the darkness, someone please cut the lights.” The electro-pop nature of the song definitely represents the energy and enthusiasm of these teenagers to “get away from the sprawl.” This is the fan favorite, as I can vouch for, as this song inspired the most singing-along and dancing at Arcade Fire’s concert among these new tracks they performed.
This next group of songs utilize an acoustic tone, perhaps due to their more emotional nature. “Rococo” is, in my opinion, the best song off The Suburbs. With acoustic guitar leading the way with a simple, repetitive riff, Butler sings about the modern kids and how they’re so snobby, “using great big words that they don’t understand.” Screeching violins and a built in power result in an emotional blast-off, with the whole band screaming “rococo” over and over again above angry drums and a memorable yet dark violin section. “Suburban War” begins like a quicker paced “Sound of Silence,” and even grows in emotion and meaning as the track continues, just like the Simon and Garfunkel classic. This one song epitomizes suburban life the best on this album: “The music divides us into tribes./You grew your hair out, so I grew mine./You said the past won’t rest/until we jump the fest and leave it behind.” “We Used to Wait” begins with a constant piano chord until Butler jumps in with delicate vocals and an offbeat drum pattern begins, mimicking the delicate nature of the teenager love about which he sings.
If you consider yourself a music fan, no matter what genre, you simply must get this album. From beginning to end, The Suburbs is a passionate description of suburban teenagers on the brink of adulthood, who are about to venture into the real world. The finale sums this feeling up: “The Suburbs (Continued)” is a continuation of the title track, except much quieter and more passionate, if that is at all possible. Butler and Chassagne whisper “all the time that we wasted, you know I’d love to waste it again.” Listening to this hour long tale will not be a waste of time; it is a musical gift given to us by this wonderful Canadian/American Indie band.
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