Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible

Until the release of their new CD, Neon Bible, I was never a huge Arcade Fire fan. When my iTunes was set to ‘Shuffle’, and one of its songs came on, I didn’t skip over it, but I never used to make the conscious decision to listen to it. The only reason I even obtained a copy of Neon Bible is that my roommate has always been a much bigger fan than I am, and she bugged me for weeks to give Neon Bible a try.

I was hooked by the time the second track was over. My iPod has been constantly looping Neon Bible for the past week, and I’m still finding new things to love. According to the band’s Myspace site, Neon Bible boasts the use of a pipe organ, a Hurdy Gurdy, a military choir, and a Hungarian orchestra.

The eclectic nature of the composition of the tracks reflects the eclectic nature of the composition of the band itself. Arcade Fire is comprised of seven members who came together over a period of time from various backgrounds, and somehow managed to congeal themselves into a band with one comprehensive sound. (Click here for a link to a very artfully written biography of the band by Alex Neal–definitely more entertaining than any bio I would try to recreate.)

I spent some time reading reviews written by other people for this post. The general consensus seems to that Neon Bible doesn’t quite live up to the high standards set by Funeral (their first album) or even The Arcade Fire EP. (Click here for the Rolling Stone review–it does a good job of summing up the majority of the complaints lodged against Neon Bible.) I’ll even admit that the critics raise a few good points. After reading over and over again that the reverb was excessive, I’ve started to notice that some of the lyrics and melodies would be a lot cleaner without it. But even though I have to (grudgingly) admit that Neon Bible is not the perfect album, I can’t say that that admission really affects my love for it.

My roommate (the die-hard Arcade Fire fan I mentioned before) said this about the new album: “It’s kind of gloomy and overdone, I guess, but who cares, if it’s the kind of CD that makes people want to listen to it over and over again?” As far as Neon Bible is concerned, I’m in complete agreement with her. There are a lot of albums that may be catchy or fun to listen to, but their flaws outweigh their benefits. No so for Neon Bible. There are definitely problems with the album, but the end result is a beautiful, gothic album that I can’t force myself to stop listening to.