Rebooting the euphoria of their 2004 debut, Funeral, WE is a big old blast of an album. One destined to lift the spirit, inflate the soul and get fans dancing giddily through the carnage of 2022.
Set to the scale of Aladdin Sane meets Blackstar-era Bowie, the multi-chapter affair sees the onetime six-piece re-engaging with the cutting social commentary that has been a fixture since the beginning – The Suburbs recently taking on further prescience.
It’s clear that these songs have a real and sincere heart, designed to both stir and soothe the soul in one fell swoop.
Open, welcoming, uplifting despite the darkness, there are few better companions for the apocalypse.
Philosophically, they haven’t been so focussed since 2010’s ‘The Suburbs’, nor so musically dramatic since 2007’s ‘Neon Bible’.
Like Spoon with Lucifer On The Sofa and Animal Collective with Time Skiffs, Arcade Fire have delivered a triumphant restatement of purpose that 2022 probably doesn't deserve but is brightened by all the same.
Ultimately ... WE is Arcade Fire’s best album since 2010’s The Suburbs. By circling back, they’re once again moving forward.
Lyrically rather than musicallly, WE has an endless cycle thought.
It may have taken a pandemic for it to happen, but We feels like a return to what they do best: writing epic, emotive songs that connect with audiences, whatever their size. It’s good to have them back.
WE is not a perfect record by a long way but it is a record that curiously seems exactly suited to its time. From both a critical and emotional perspective, for the first time in many years Arcade Fire appear truly human again.
What differentiates WE from Everything Now is the strength of the surrounding songwriting. If ABBA-esque disco was a strange shoe fit for a band once well-beloved as the patron saints of modern indie rock, by returning to the stylings that defined their first decade together Arcade Fire have made their strongest record since The Suburbs.
At its best ... WE reminds listeners what made this group the indie giants that they are and even makes a case that for all our irony-fuelled nihilism, a little earnestness, and perhaps even hope, aren’t always such a bad thing.
Nothing here quite scratches the itch of both emotional catharsis and rapturous splendour the way Arcade Fire's best songs do, but after a few initial attempts at capturing our collective panic and frustration, they have finally managed to pull it off by seeing themselves as part of the problem.
While not as immediately accessible as the all-star run of their first three albums, WE will at least be a course-corrector for fans still alienated by Everything Now and the underrated Reflektor, a satisfying journey that realigns the band's heart and soul.
It’s uneven, uncertain, even uncharismatic in some places. It’s retreading old ground and shouting at clouds, but also genuine and at times beautiful in its crystalline synth-pop nostalgia.
There’s lots to love but WE can’t match the power of the band’s first four records. Still, Arcade Fire’s returned rejuvenated after time in a cynical wilderness, ready to sing and dance against apathy. This album is worth it for that fact alone.
As to whether they fulfil that restart bid, the answer is guardedly affirmative, in keeping with WE’s two-sided balance of ongoing struggle and endurance.
WE asserts Arcade Fire’s dominance over their amorphous influencesphere as decisively as it asserts that they have very little of interest or import to say about pretty much anything.
Somehow, Arcade Fire have created an album that’s one half an exciting return to form and the other a continuation of their worst impulses with WE.
It’s perhaps no surprise after such a poorly received misfire that they should go here, and some of WE will trigger your sentimentality for this once great band, but ultimately it leaves a void. It’s not the end of the empire, and probably not the end of Arcade Fire, but it sounds like it should be.
If you've heard "The Lightning I-II," you've heard the only excitement WE has to offer.
My relationship with this album is so complicated, that I don't want to bother typing a review anymore. 30 minute vid coming soon
This is easily my longest review ever, so advance warning. TL;DR at the bottom.
Like this record, I’m going to split this review into two distinct halves.
First of all: the unbiased half. Written from the perspective of a music lover, and enjoyer of Arcade Fire’s music. I’m going to try to keep this as objective as possible, and not let my personal attachment get in the way too much.
So, the question remains: Is this album good?
Well, yes. In fact, it’s really good. ... read more
Good comeback, but not enough
Arcade fire, the canadian indie rock band's new album is an acceptable comeback considering the mixed to negative reactons to their previous project "everything now". A simply good indie rock album consisting of nice and heart-warming slow-paced rock ballads. Well-produced and musically gorgeous.
But a good album is not enough for them
Recently and mostly after the release of everything now, arcade fire have been receiving a large amount of negative ... read more
It's not the worst thing ever, it's also not in Arcade Fire's standards; there's interesting ideas brought in 'Age of Anxiety' I and II but the delivery could be more refined: "Born into the abyss, new phone, who’s this?". I like the more inner and otherworldly approach that we find in Funeral or Reflektor.
FAVORITES: Age of Anxiety I; Age of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole); The Lightning II
1 | Age of Anxiety I 5:27 | 80 |
2 | Age of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole) 6:41 | 75 |
3 | Prelude 0:30 | 55 |
4 | End of The Empire I-III 5:23 | 75 |
5 | End of the Empire IV (Sagittarius A*) 3:54 | 62 |
6 | The Lightning I 3:01 | 81 |
7 | The Lightning II 2:34 | 86 |
8 | Unconditional I (Lookout Kid) 4:33 | 73 |
9 | Unconditional II (Race and Religion) 4:20 feat. Peter Gabriel | 74 |
10 | WE 3:51 | 70 |
#16 | / | XS Noize |
#19 | / | Hot Press |
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#91 | / | Piccadilly Records |
#100 | / | Les Inrocks |
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