🎶 2022-03-17 20:10:00 – Paris/France.
“We can do this, baby,” pleads Win Butler. “Please don't forsake me / I won't forsake you / Don't forsake me / I will never forsake you. These lyrics feel charged. So do this: “I thought we had reached the top of the mountain / But now we feel so low. And these: "Know that we've been cut down and broken/But now we can touch the fire." And these: "It's not up to you/Some you win, some you lose/When the lightning strikes." »
In a new email message to fans, Butler says “The Lightning I, II” was taped at “peak COVID,” “in the shadow of the Mexican border wall,” as the 2020 election results roll in. He was inspired by Haitian immigrants "walking from as far away as Brazil for a chance at freedom, only to encounter whips, dogs and officers on horseback" and by "the optimism I see in my child living in paradise “under a poisoned sky”. The video for the song is a reference to the "feeling of the past two years: trying to make big plans only to have the storms of life force you to improvise." There is no doubt that the relentless turmoil of recent history has fueled this impassioned call for perseverance. How could he not?
But Arcade Fire is not fooled. They are well aware that a large percentage of listeners were disappointed by the confusion and despair of 2017. Everything now. They know it has the reputation of being their worst album and that its overly clever multimedia promotional campaign has made a more lasting impression than any of its songs. So while "The Lightning I, II" isn't explicitly appealing to frustrated fans, in context, like Arcade Fire's first single Everything now followed, it's hard not to hear it that way — especially when those words are accompanied by the kind of catchy, expansive arena rock that made them a generation-defining band in the first place.
The return to the serious anthem is on schedule. Arcade Fire is almost two decades after its debut album. U2 too when they came out Everything you can't leave behind, the crowd-pleasing blockbuster for which they have “reapplied” the position of “best group in the world”. (For a former millennial like me, these are wild facts to deal with.) Arcade Fire has always drawn inspiration from Bono and company, and more than a few observers have compared Everything now to U2's own tongue-in-cheek dance experience Pop. Even outside of U2's obvious parallels, in Arcade Fire's own trajectory, the time has come for a homecoming album on which they remind us why we care so much about them in the first place – hopefully, which leads to a more lasting and vital rebirth than Everything you can't leave behind finally delivered.
Will the next US be this album? It is too early to tell. A partnership with longtime Radiohead producer and unofficial sixth member Nigel Godrich is intriguing, but it could mean a number of things. Consider how vigilantly Radiohead resisted becoming the next U2. Remember that Godrich also produced Pavement's division Twilight Terror and Beck's depression Sea change and an album from Supergrass' side project, the Hotrats. As a fan of Radiohead, I can't help but be excited about Godrich's involvement in USbut this is by no means a guarantee that Arcade Fire will emerge from its flop era.
Meanwhile, live footage of new songs 'Age Of Anxiety I' and 'Age Of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole)' suggests that this group is far from done with dance music. The former is slow-burning drama that drops a club beat where you'd expect the rock 'n' roll explosion to occur. The latter could almost pass for Crystal Castles. These are the first two songs from the new album. Could it be that the "I" side, which speaks of "our problems", is imbued with electronic rhythms, while the "WE" side, "of our love for each other", recovers the classic sound of ArcadeFire?
Everything is not yet clear for the moment. What is clear is that for anyone yearning for a return to the huge, fearless emotional outpourings on which Arcade Fire made its name, "The Lightning I, II" is one hell of an olive branch. A cynic might even call it complacency, but the whole point of Everything now The backlash is that cynicism and Arcade Fire don't mix. A multi-part epic with an extended reach, a bleeding heart, and plenty of hooks to scream at: that's what Arcade Fire does best, and here they did it spectacularly. Those of us who have spent years waiting for lightning officially have reason to be excited. Arcade Fire in the business of hope again, including hope for another classic Arcade Fire album.
SOURCE: Reviews News
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