I’m going to be testing out a different format for this review. Rather than going on a track-by-track basis, I will separate this review into three distinct categories: music, lyrics, and concept. This will allow me more flexibility as opposed to reviewing in a strictly chronological fashion. If this new configuration works out better, I’ll keep it. If not, then I’ll return to my original format.
The Suburbs is the third full-length release from Arcade Fire. This album was different than their previous one, in a variety of ways including musically. For starters, the first couple of songs sounded far more like pop tunes when compared to their usual fare. Arcade Fire isn’t the most esoteric of rock groups, but they’re songs are not usually this straight forward. Other tracks, such as “Rococo” and “Half Light I” have the more sweeping, anthemic sound the band is known for. I also hear references to past musical eras throughout this album as well. “City with No Children” for example, sounds like a psychedelic rock tune from the 60s. “Half Light II” is laden with 80’s style new wave synthesizers. But perhaps the strongest throwback of all has to be the penultimate track, “Sprawl II.” This track’s a disco beat as well as the cadence of its melody line makes it reminiscent of the Blondie tune “Heart of Glass.” Overall, there was a good diversity of musical styles throughout this album; more so than on their last. Though I enjoy some of the tracks more than others, my various opinions of the individual tracks will undoubtedly change as I give this album the repeated listens that it merits.
If this album merits repeated listens musically, lyrically it requires it. It’s a concept album that centers on some of the band members’ suburban Houston upbringing. Most of the songs seem almost nostalgic, involving concepts such as loss of innocence, coming of age, and self-discovery; all set against the backdrop of suburbia. Since the members of this band average around 30 years old, the time period in which this story takes place, is most likely the early to mid 90s. I feel a greater connection to this album, as I’m sure any Gen Y-er does, because I too grew up during this time period. Like the music on this album, lyrics are wide ranging, portraying a variety of different emotions from childlike exhilaration to skepticism of authority. The most prevalent emotion by far, however, is nostalgia. Not just for the past itself, but for the innocence that’s lost with the end of childhood as well as the carefree nature of youth experienced before the onset of adult responsibility. The band does a good job of portraying this bittersweet nostalgic theme with out being redundant or going over the top (except for maybe in a couple of instances). Arcade Fire is certainly not the first group to look longingly to the past as a more innocent and carefree time (Brian Wilson is still doing it). What makes them unique, however is that they are one of the first bands of the modern era devote an entire album to the subject matter. This isn’t baby boomer Don Henley singing about the boys of summer or The Smashing Pumpkins reflecting on 1979. This is the voice of a new generation singing about what it was like to come of age in the 90’s.
I feel a strong affinity for this album’s concept because it relates to a time and place with which I’m very familiar. And that is precisely what makes this album so widely successful. It deals with universal themes in a time and place that almost everyone can relate to. For one thing, it’s set in the 90s, a time most people are quite familiar with given its relative recentness. To make a larger point, however, this album centers on a place that most people are familiar with. This touches on a concept that I myself have more recently reflected upon. More Americans live in suburbs than in any single city in the country. While suburbia isn’t a specific geographic location such as New York City or Los Angeles, it is a specific place with it’s own uniquely homogenized culture, style, and even mentality. Anyone who has traveled from the suburbs of Dallas to greater Seattle or the surrounding neighborhoods of Chicago can tell you, it’s the same place. One that’s easily recognizable by it’s endless sprawl of chain restaurants, shopping malls, and super-centers as well as its neighborhoods containing endless rows of houses and manicured lawns. In fact, if someone were randomly placed in a suburban town, they would likely be hard pressed to identify the metropolis with out consulting a newspaper or turning on the radio. It is this reason that suburbia can be thought of as a single place containing the majority of Americans and it is in this distinctive atmosphere that this album takes place. Almost everyone can identify with 90’s suburbia as well as the widespread themes that this album is comprised of. By adding music that is intriguing, yet accessible, Arcade Fire has created an album that is universally resounding in its impact.
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