By Will, July 23rd 2010 — with 11 comments
So I haven’t done a live blog of an albums leak since The National’s High Violet leaked. It’s a fun thing to do because it shows you all of my first impressions of these songs. These are only my raw first impressions of the songs remember, so don’t consider this a review or my final judgement of this album. It’s far from it. Rather this is just my fun way of giving my first impressions.
I should preface this live blogging with the fact that I have bought two tickets to see the band at MSG, and am going to buy the vinyl of The Suburbs. I have seen the band live before, have a t-shirt, and all their albums. So I’m not trying to say just grab the leak and be done with it. Be sure to support Arcade Fire. They deserve it if anyone. You can pre-order the album from them right here.
Ok so lets do it.
1. The Suburbs: Well it may just be because I am so damn excited about finally hearing this album, but “The Suburbs” sounds even better than I remember it. I gave it a few weeks off after abusing it a little bit. It really is a nice opening, paving the way for the glory that is sure on the way. 1:07 PM
2. Ready To Start: Loved the transition that “The Suburbs” took into “Ready To Start”. Don’t remember this song sounding like such a rocker. This song sounds like it gained 10x more energy and urgency since I last heard it. I’m probably just getting ahead of myself, but this sounds a lot better right now. This songs going to be epic live. 1:10pm
3. Modern Man: Now we are getting to the “new” songs. Modern starts off nicely with acoustic guitars and Win Butler singing it a very sad, lonely voice. Wow these guitars are slaying me hard. Some beautiful work. This is a pure anthem. The band sure does sound more focused, putting together multiple layers of sounds that really work to their favor. Enjoyed this one a lot. 1:16 pm
4. Rococo – Ok, I’ve been dying to hear this after the MSG trailer. Stars out with some swirling string effects and more acoustics…you can tell this ones gonna be an emotional epic. Oh man, the guitar and effects after the first Rococo….slaying me. God damn, this is some heavy stuff. I am blown away right now. This song is everything that I could want from an Arcade Fire song. Call me very, very, impressed. Best song out of the first 4 easily. If any song on the album beats this, we have an instant classic on our hands folks. 1:21 pm
5. Empty Room – Starts out with some Disney-esque effects but then slides into a thunderous collision of instruments. Sounds like anything but a “empty room”. Good to hear Régine back near the front end of the vocals. These guys have decided to go towards a more upbeat direction making the most of their guitars…and I’m all for it. They are masters pf combining thunderous sounds and emotion. 1:25
6. City With No Children – Been talking to a friend about the album, and he feels like it’s very Springsteen-esque as well. I can totally see that on this song. The song didn’t quite take off as much as I hoped but the guitars were really great. Seems to be a trend on this album. I feel like this one will need to grow on me a bit. 1:30 pm
7. Half Light I – Ooooh loving the soft vocals from Régine…and the strings…the strings!!!! Beautiful stuff. Looks like they slowed down the pace somewhat, and what better timing. These strings are just wonderful, they are totally making the song for me right now. Nice..on to part 2! 1:34 pm
8. Half Light II (No Celebration) – This one has a number of various sounds and influences spitting out of it. Funky percussion that I dare call…tribal influenced? More glorious strings floating around creating a magical atmosphere. They are using some electronic effects as percussion, which is certainly different..but it does work. This song is one of the more heavier produced songs from the band. I gotta listen some more to this one for sure…Will surely have to run through it again to listen closer to the lyrics. They definitely have nostalgic value to Win. 1:40 pm
9. Suburban War – Ooh this stars out nice. Mesmerizing guitar riff, and some diverse percussion. There is something very attractive about the sound of this one…Oh man, the last minute came out of no where. I can only imagine what these guys will do with this one live. This has a lot of potential to grow on me. There is a lot to take in, but I am really favorable to this song. 1:45 pm
10. Month Of May – Month Of May falls in the good old “sounds better in context of the album” category. They shouldn’t have released this one as a “single”. I think its an odd cat alone. However it certainly fits nicely right behind the rest of the album. 1:50 pm
11. Wasted Hours – This is an appropriate title because this song has this lazy, chilling at the porch feel to it. Picture Win and co. playing this one in your living room over some nice cold beers. Yeah…perfect! This one is totally dripping with regret and remembrance. 1:53 pm
12. Deep Blue – Pretty pretty stuff. From Win’s voice to the disjointed piano, its all well formed. Arcade Fire a band that is known for the way they create emotions through their voice & music. This is one of the songs where they let the music do the talking for them. The last bit of instrumentals is excellent. 1:58 pm
13. We Used To Wait – This sounds a lot more dramatic and thematic than I remember it being. This was my favorite song out of the first 4 songs we received, and it still remains one of my favorites. This is a true Arcade Fire moment. 2:03 pm
14. Sprawl (Flatland) – Can already tell this is a sad song. The opening sound of empty open air was a clear indication of where this one was headed. This is a ballad of sorts with Win. Lets see where part 2 takes us… 2:06 pm
15. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) – If part 1 was the flatlands, part 2 certainly does sound like a journey to the mountains that are beyond mountains. This is a magical song that sounds like Régine’s opposite to Haiti. If anything, its like a recording of her escape from Haiti to the glory that has become this band. It’s somewhat danceable thanks to some New Order synth effects that are well executed. This truly sounds like nothing that the band has ever done before. I am genuinely impressed. 2:11 pm
16. The Suburbs (continued) – Here we are, the final lap. It acts as a reprise for The Suburbs using its chorus. It’s a pretty appropriate way to end it all. 2:14 pm
Alright so there you have it. I just completed my first run of the album, and I am very pleased. The album lived up to my expectations, and it may have even surpased it. The songs took new directions and showed that Arcade Fire truly are one of a kind. There is no denying that they are one of the best bands of our generation. This is three near classic albums in a row. I still need to listen to this plenty of more times, and cannot wait to get this baby on vinyl. It’s going to sound magical.
The Suburbs was everything I could have asked for.
Be sure to pre-order the album now. It officially drops on August 3rd.
