Arcade Fire - A Track By Track Guide To 'The Suburbs'

“One of the things [with] it being our third record, is that we can't really pretend that no one's ever heard of us before,” said Arcade Fire’s frontman Win Butler in a recent interview. And he’s right.

Three years on from the release of ‘Neon Bible’ and six years since the release of their emphatic debut ‘Funeral’, Arcade Fire’s third album ‘The Suburbs’ arrives with an unsettling level of expectation. Not only does it need to appease the Canadian band’s exciting fan base, which has grown, understandably, to expect rather a lot, but it is also charged with the responsibility of taking Arcade Fire to the next level.

It’s typical of Arcade Fire, then, to have kept samples and performances of songs from the album to a minimum over recent months.

But now, ahead of its release on August 2 and with the embargos lifted, Gigwise Editor Jason Gregory is able to deliver his track-by-track guide to ‘The Suburbs’.

‘The Suburbs’

The album’s opening song and title track quickly establishes the record’s theme, with Win Butler singing about his suburban upbringing in Houston, Texas. “In the suburbs I, I learned to drive and you told me we’d never survive,” he says softly, as a piano and strings tiptoe delicately over the top of the song’s jaunty drumbeat.

‘Ready To Start’

The single-note outro to ‘The Suburbs’ moulds seamlessly intro the second track, ‘Ready To Start’. Aptly titled, the song sees Arcade Fire up the album’s tempo - not to mention the reverb on Tim Kingsbury’s bass guitar. Relentless and energetic, the band bring the tempo of the song down two-thirds of the way in, before building it up again as the track races towards an abrupt crescendo.

‘Modern Man’

Although the driving bass remains, ‘Modern Man’ sees Arcade Fire revert to their more genteel indie-rock side, with subtle electric guitar riffs intertwining with acoustic guitar. The scant instrumentation kindly brings Butler’s introspective song writing to the forefront. “I erased the number of the modern man, while we break the mirror of the modern man,” he sings, before adding: “In my dream I was almost there, then they pulled me aside and said you’re going no where.”

‘Rococo’

The first truly menacing song on the album, ‘Rococo’ uses a blend of guitars and orchestral string to dramatic effect, evoking memories of ‘Intervention’-era Arcade Fire - albeit minus the organ. A song that grows more ominous with every listen.

‘Empty Room’

An unexpected violin, played at a rapid pace by Sarah Neufeld, serves as a wake-up call for anyone foolish enough to have switched off by the time ‘Empty Room’ bursts into life. Despite being devoid of any notable sing-along chorus, the song, which sees Butler joined on vocals by his wife Régine Chassagne, feels dramatically instant, and looks set to become a fan favourite at the band’s live shows.

‘City With No Children’

The ominously entitled ‘City Of No Children’ sees Arcade Fire strip back their normally ambitious instrumentation until all that remains is a resounding guitar hook, which carves out the song’s energy. Lyrically, we find Butler in turmoil with himself, singing about “having doubts” and losing belief. He sounds positively lost when both he and Chassagne sing the chorus: “I feel like I’ve been living in a city with no children in, a garden left for ruin by the billionaire inside of a private prison.”

‘Half Light I’

Chassagne takes over on vocals for the start of ‘Half Light I’, which may just be Arcade Fire’s most beautiful song to-date. Built around a repeating string section, which wouldn’t sound out of place at the Royal Ballet, the song floats along serenely, like a lone cloud on a warm summer’s day. Butler’s vocals - and the eventual support from the rest of the band at the song’s climax - serve only as an aide to his wife as she makes the most of her moment in the spotlight.

‘Half Light II’

Halfway into the album, ‘Half Light II’ introduces a new doom-laden hint of electronica to Arcade Fire’s already prolific musical armoury. The humming backdrop combines with the songs techno heartbeat as Butler and Chassagne recall “all that we’ve lost”. Perhaps best summarised as Arcade Fire’s take on ‘Where The Street’s Have No Name’.

‘Suburban War’

The record’s small town theme grows even more explicit on ‘Suburban War’, as Butler’s lyrics become even more melancholic. “You said the past won’t rest, until we jump the fence and leave it behind,” he sings, in apparent reference to his own escape from his humble origins. Tinged with elements of folk, the song meanders along softly until the singer chants: “Oh my old friends, they don’t know me now. Oh my old friends are staring through me now.”

‘Month Of May’

After ‘Suburban War’s’ abrupt conclusion, the album emphatically erupts into ‘Month Of May’. A song already familiar to those who bought the band’s recent EP, the haunting track thunders along, again driven by a booming bass line.

‘Wasted Hours’

Opened with an acoustic guitar and bouncing drumbeat, Arcade Fire regress to a more traditional song format on ‘Wasted Hours’. The unexpected turn puts full emphasis on Butler’s voice, which adds extra warmth to the demonstrative violins that make subtle appearances throughout the song.

‘Deep Blue’

‘Deep Blue’ opens in a similar musical vein to its predecessors, although the acoustic guitar is joined on this occasion by yet more throbbing bass and a playful piano hook. As the song develops, so does the complexity of the string section, which slowly creeps up on the listener like an unexpected - but very welcome - guest. The songs ends with a chorus of “La, la-la, la-la, la-la” from the band.

‘We Used To Wait’

‘We Used To Wait’s’ opening line: “I used to write, I used to write letters, I use to sign my name,” will, by now, already be familiar to most Arcade Fire’s fans, having been widely circulated online. Taking its place on the album proper, the song retains its threatening peril thanks to its hammering piano line, which is accompanied by sweeping strings. Butler urges the listener to “wait for it” as the tempo rises to an ominous crescendo.

‘Sprawl I (Flatland)’

After the energy of the previous song, ‘Sprawl I (Flatland)’ is almost the complete juxtaposition. There’s not a drumbeat insight as Butler revisits the town where he grow up. “I took a drive into the sprawl to find the house where we used to stay in,” he recalls, sounding genuinely torn. Strings provide all the atmospherics that are needed.

‘Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)’

With Chassagne back on lead vocals, Arcade Fire explore their new-found electronic edge again on the album’s penultimate track. Gloriously experimental, the song fuses together clever breakdowns with uplifting synths straight from the 1980s. “Sometimes I wonder if the world’s too small, if we can never get away from the sprawl,” sings Chassagne. The song’s bleeps and buzzes, as well as its poignant placement on the album, pose a real question as to where the band’s musical journey will turn next.

‘The Suburbs (Continued)’

The final song reprises album’s title track with just the string section, which is accompanied by Butler and Chassagne’s vocals. Sounding like they are singing directly to each other, the pair gradually fade away as they utter the line: “Sometimes I can’t believe it, I’m moving past the feeling again.”

It’s a provocative conclusion to what is an incendiary album from Arcade Fire. Indeed, like the suburbs themselves, just when you thought you knew this band, they once again sound enigmatically exotic.

'The Suburbs' is released on August 2.