Friday, September 10, 2010

The Melodrama of Land-Use Planning

I'm still coming around to The Suburbs, Arcade Fire's new album. It hasn't struck me with its brilliance the way Funeral or Neon Bible did on my first listen. Maybe it is "the best kind of slow burn?" I haven't listened to it enough to say.

Like its predecessors, The Suburbs is another introspective examination (and sometimes indictment, no matter what Win Butler says) of modern culture, full of the bombastic, baroque anthems Arcade Fire is known for and a few songs that slow the pace of the album. "Sprawl (Flatland),"one of the songs that have really stood out to me so far, is a strange and spooky song that belongs to the latter category:

["Sprawl (Flatland) - Arcade Fire"]

"Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" is a bit uncharacteristically bouncy for them, but still explores the same themes of decay and listlessness as the other songs on the album. Just in a somewhat more positive, forward-looking way.

And is it just me, or does this sound kind of like a New Wave pop song to anyone else?

["Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" - Arcade Fire]


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3 comments:

  1. that interactive video thing was REALLY FREAKING COOL. we definitely need more engaging, innovative music videos out there.

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  2. wow Sprawl (Flatlands) was almost had a... more classic quality to it at some points. At some points I found myself feeling almost like I was listening to an art song. I'm not sure if that's accurate at all, but it is indeed a very riveting song.

    I'm not sure about New Wave pop song, because I don't know anything about New Wave pop haha. It's very bubblegummy to me though.

    And yes that interactive film was amazing. I wish we had more street views of places outside the U.S. on google maps!

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  3. Yeah, bubblegummy's a good word for it. Like I said, it's surprising considering the source.

    I think there are a lot of non-U.S. views-- when I was typing in my address, a bunch of addresses in places like Turkey and Finland popped up. It'd be weird to make them options if they wouldn't realy work for the video. Maybe it depends on the place -what were you looking for?

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