"It takes a band like Arcade Fire to remind you that we are all custodians of our innocence and that we let it die at our peril." --Robert Everett-Green, the Globe and Mail
Funeral is the debut album from Montreal indie band The Arcade Fire, released September 14, 2004 on the Merge Records label to much fanfare and critical acclaim from all sides. It deserves every accolade that it's gotten, and probably more.
The Arcade Fire are Win Butler, his wife Régine Chassagne and brother Will Butler, and jacks-of-all-trades Richard Parry and Tim Kingsbury. The album came after a busy summer for the band; not only were they busy writing songs and searching for backing musicians and a record label, but Régine's grandmother had passed away in June, and Régine and Will were married in August. They began work recording in September, still looking for a label that would sign them. Then in March, Will and Win's grandfather died, and then Richard Perry's aunt a month later. Merge Records signed the band in May. When the album was finally finished, the band dubbed it Funeral in memory of the loved ones they had lost.
What does it sound like? Think of the indie rock aesthetic of the Shimmer Kids, with skilful percussion and wistful strings and vocals that run from sultry and effortlessly soaring in both French and English as Régine sings to Win's theatrical and over-the-top vibrato. Then make it better. Funeral is almost flawless, and it is unremittingly fantastic. The songs roll into each other without pausing for breath and the music comes in waves, sometimes gently bouncy ("Haïti"), sometimes intense ("In the Backseat"), and sometimes powerfully rocking ("Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)").
Sometimes the record is deeply personal and relevant to the band members themselves -- "Haïti" is a nod to the political unrest that forced Régine's parents to flee their home country (under the dictatorship of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier) in the 1960s, taking refuge in North America. That said, most of it is universal -- after all, everyone has lost someone that they've loved, one way or another, and everyone loses their innocence.
Lyrically, this last is a central concern of much of the album. It starts off with a story of the innocence of youth; the spell is shattered when the focus suddenly shifts to the rougher side of urban life, suicide, and eventually fatalistic acceptance that what was lost can never be reclaimed. The passing of time doesn't help: "Time keep creeping through the neighbourhood/ killing old folks, waking up babies, just like we knew it would." Win sings that "our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up ... I guess we just have to adjust" atop hard-driving guitars, and in listening you know exactly what he means.
Funeral would do any established indie rock band proud -- the fact that it is a debut album makes it all the more impressive.
Tracklist:
01. Neighbourhood #1 (
Tunnels) (4:48)
02. Neighbourhood #2 (Laïka) (3:32)
03.
Une Année Sans Lumière (3:40)
04. Neighbourhood #3 (
Power Out) (5:12)
05. Neighbourhood #4 (7
Kettles) (4:49)
06. Crown of Love (4:42)
07.
Wake Up (5:35)
08.
Haïti (4:07)
09.
Rebellion (Lies) (5:10)
10. In the Backseat (6:20)
Supporting musicians:
Sarah Neufeld; Owen Pallett; Michael Olsen; Pietro Amato; Anita Fust; Sophie Trudeau; Jessica Moss; Genevieve Heistek; Arlen Thompson; Mark Lawson; Thierry Amar.
Props to http://www.mergerecords.com for biographies and background information and to jaubertmoniker for inhibiting laziness.