The Suburbs

Admittedly, I was a little late getting onto the Arcade Fire wagon. I first heard them on Goshen College's radio station without knowing who it was I was hearing, and just knew that whatever it was, it was a dang catchy song ('No Cars Go' is the single in question). A few weeks later, I bought Neon Bible off of a fleeting reference a friend made, and was well pleased. After two years, I finally picked up Funeral during a spree of buying new music, and didn't really listen to it until I heard 'Wake Up' in the trailer for 'Where the Wild Things Are.' But at that time, Funeral couldn't hit me the way it would have when it first came out, and Neon Bible couldn't impress me with its scope compared to their debut. I just knew that both records were different--and wonderful.

Their newest release, The Suburbs, continues their winning streak. The record is filled with bittersweet ruminations on growing up and adolescence filled with a commentary on the emptiness of suburban sprawl paired with catchy arrangements that occupy the space between orchestral arrangements and post-punk inspired pop songs. The one strange thing about it, though, is that it doesn't really strike me as incredible or groundbreaking or even too remarkable. Is it bad? No. Is it not as good as anything else Win & Co. have done? It's just as good at least. The phenomena occurs The Arcade Fire has raised their bar so high that coming out with remarkable records is what is expected. But they've come to do great music so well that you hardly notice, and that is what's remarkable.