Arcade Fire Neon Bible by: Tom Bradbury Tue:06-Mar-07 Label: Merge Year: 2007 WB rating 91 out of 100

Arcade Fire front man Win Butler has described their new album, Neon Bible, as the sound of “standing by the ocean at night”. It’s a great encapsulation of what the experience of listening to the record is like, but to be honest I think he left it a bit short. More precisely, Neon Bible sounds like standing by the ocean at night while bombs are falling in an unknown war, and the tide is rising in a world feeling the affects of global warming. Oh yeah, and the four horseman of the apocalypse are galloping down the dunes in a straight line towards you. Funeral had an upbeat sound that belied its lyrical content. It was the sound of a precocious young band enjoying their talent. On Neon Bible, the party's over. There are a few tracks that echo the existential joy of Funeral, but for the most part it is left behind.

The album opener, ‘Black Mirror’, is a big statement. It’s dark, relatively inaccessible and Butler’s vocals are so drenched in reverb you can barely understand what he is singing: “Mirror, Mirror on the wall/Show me where the bombs will fall”. A cacophony of static and noise simmers behind the conventional instrumentation, creating a sense of chaos – background percussion booms like exploding mortar shells, as if the band are playing in the middle of a battlefield.

It takes a while (at least for me it did) for the thematic content to sink in. This is where the true power of Neon Bible lies. Melodically, it is not as compelling as Funeral, although there are some songs on this album that are as equally uplifting as anything found on their debut – see ‘Intervention’ and ‘Keep The Car Running’ – but the atmosphere is remarkable. ‘Black Mirror’ is merely the harbinger of things to come.

Let it be clear, Arcade Fire take aim at nothing less than the future of humanity and the spirituality that would be their last hope. Butler knows we’re on the edge of chaos, that religions have been warped, and that turmoil is imminent. It is the concern of our generation, the bitter pill that nobody wants to swallow. In Butler’s vision there is little hope: “Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home,” it is very bleak content. In the ‘60’s hippies thought they could overcome the Iron Curtain and MAD with only the love in their hearts and the flowers in their hair. “There’s a whole generation, with a new explanation/People in motion”, Scott McKenzie sang, a far cry from Butler’s: “Nothing lasts forever/That's the way it's gotta be/ There's a great black wave in the middle of the sea”. They times they are a changing, but not for the better. The only option is escape, but to who knows where.

Even the seemingly uplifting tracks on Neon Bible offer no tangible hope, only blind faith in human survival instincts. ‘No Cars Go’ is an invitation to a place away from society where, obviously amongst other things, “No Cars Go”, except in the very last line Butler admits: “Don’t know where we’re going”. There is no real plan for how or where to flee, but it’s a rejection of society akin to that of Allen Ginsberg and the Beats. Butler sings on ‘Windowsill’: “Don't wanna fight in a holy war/Don't want the salesmen knocking at my door/I don't wanna live in America no more”. In light of this predicament, the only option is to ‘Keep the Car Running’ – a mutated Kerouac On The Road desire for the 21st century.

Neon Bible is more than just good tunes, it’s a massive artistic vision. Unlike most concept albums, this one would actually make great cinema. When I listen to each track I can visualize scenes unfolding. I don’t think it’s just because I’m a dreamer – there is a dramatic weight intrinsic to the music. Butler would seem to agree, stating that sometimes it felt like Arcade Fire were making a movie more than a record. The images could not be more relevant – fear of the future on a planet that is becoming unstable in more ways than one, of a dystopia that may be our birthright. Neon lights are the ultimate form of lowest common denominator advertising. Is Butler saying that our society is so far gone that humanity has been robbed of authentic spirituality?
 
‘Black Wave/Bad Vibrations’ is the definitive track of the album. The very title is ominous. Guitars create the sound of waves crashing and bombs falling while layer upon layer of choral voices sing a song of impending doom. It is like the inside of a post-traumatic stress victim’s brain – instruments begin to take on the characteristics of the sounds of war. It is neurotic, paranoid and very powerful.

Neon Bible is dark and brooding, but that is how it is meant to sound. Arcade Fire have not tried to make an accessible record, they have not tried for the mainstream success that so clearly beckons – praise them for that. Instead Butler has opted to strive for the mantle of Bard of our times – Dylan’s unwanted Spokesman of a generation tag. If he is the prophet of our time, then we better start stocking up on canned food and water. I have to admit that initially I was disappointed. Like a lot of people, I guess I wanted to put Arcade Fire into a box where they would only play the music I wanted them to play – Funeral Vol.2 I suppose. Good bands change, unfortunately fans do not always change with them. Perhaps it is not the best comparison, but it’s a bit like all the disgruntled folkies who were so enraged when Dylan switched from folk to balls-out rock. They just wanted Dylan to produce Freewheelin’ over and over again. Thankfully he didn’t, and Arcade Fire are not about to fall into the same trap. This is an album for our times, even if we bury our heads in the sand.