First death, then institutions and now youth, Arcade Fire excels in delivering its latest outing. A classic dubbed The Suburbs.

Arcade Fire

The Suburbs: Merge

Win Butler and Regine Chassagne, the wedded duo that lead school writing paper Arcade Fire, have proven to be the raconteurs of the decade by doing the impractical: accurately narrating the bliss, ambition and complexity of adolescence, as they themselves treading further and further away from their own youth. In the opening minutes of The Suburbs, AF’s third album, Butler sings “So can you understand?/ Why I want a daughter while I’m still young/ I want to hold her hand and show her some beauty before this damage is done.”  That song, the leadoff title track, defines The Suburbs in 5 minutes. It’s a story, the tale of the innermost desires and fears of the aging young, composed epically by the heroic.

Arcade Fire materialized in 2004 as the makers of exquisite indie art rock. Their first album Funeral wowed critics and fans alike. Songs about death’s influence on the young sang over a full string section and wayward instruments ranging from the xylophone to the accordion. What AF had done (and continued with their 2007 release Neon Bible) was create a passionate guide for the vulnerable with a hodge-podge of talented musicians.

As co-front man, Butler was able to bottle his memories of growing up in suburban Texas and funnel it into the record – writing about the hesitation of leaving home, admiration of the city dwellers and uniformity of the “private prison” that is his suburbs.

On Suburbs the band remains a group of demi-muses, often expressing the songs with an angelic mood. On the third track, “Modern Man,” Butler solemnly spews his message of breaking the mold (“I was dreaming/ and I feel I’m losing the feeling/ makes me feel like/ like something don’t feel right/ I erase the number of the modern man/ want to break the mirror of the modern man.”) over a humming bass, light off-beat percussion and echoing violins.

Suburbs also includes songs of declaration, In “Ready To Start” Butler asserts, “Now your knocking at my door/ saying please come out with us tonight/ but I would rather be alone/ then pretend I feel alright.”Month of May,” the albums fast-paced punk moment is an angry tandem. Butler sings and Chassagne echoes each lyric (without her this song loses its fervor) – “so young/ so young/ so much pain for someone so young/ I know its heavy I know it aint light/ but how you going to lift up with your arms folded tight.” – all the music stops abruptly at this point  except  Jeremy Gara who keeps the beat going on the drums and the prog chord happy melody chimes back in and the song continues.

Musically, this album is intriguing. Like past AF albums it seems every instrument echoes, thus creating an aura that comforts the ears. The guitar-work could be chalked as plain and boring if it weren’t for the strings. Each time they spring in it is at the right time, often emulating the core melody of the song spot on. It’s almost as if the other instruments bend to the will of the more obscure instruments. While a song plays the guitar or the drums are the focal point of the recording, but for that window of time that a violin, cello, keyboard is heard they reign supreme until they retreat.

This album rocks! Its concept falls right in line with the other two previous albums as intriguing, original and refreshing. The message of the album is inspiring, too not be afraid to leave your comfort zone, your “suburb,” because like it or not it’s going to leave you anyways.  Like Chassagne and Butler sing on the album’s finale, rightfully so, “sometimes I can’t believe it/ I’m moving past the feeling.”

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