This was easily one of my most-anticipated albums of the year, if only to see where Arcade Fire would go next after the angsty anthemic rock of Neon Bible I was not disappointed, with the Canadian group bringing a much softer but still meaningful album – almost a concept album – centered on the theme of suburbia and all the facets of modern life that term encompasses. I’ve listened to this album a bunch, but I always feel like there’s more to get, like I understand it better every time, but there’s still more to unearth in it.
All the songs are great, but I have to say I’m particularly partial to Regine’s two main ones – “Empty Room” and “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” – they have a wild, uninhibited quality to them that makes them that much more memorable than Win’s more restrained numbers. The album took a while to grow on me (with 16 tracks, it’s a lot to take in), but when it did, oh how it did.
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