Fire in the hole
Ilana Kronick
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photo: The Arcade Fire: This token is smokin'
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Montreal's Arcade Fire are stoked to find their niche
For a while there, it looked like The Arcade Fire was going to be one of those intriguing bands whose time had come just when their time had run out. Freshly broken up and suddenly abuzz, what's a group to do? Bank on the posthumous (and potentially quite significant) success of a defunct project, or scramble to get it back together and give it another, extra-inspired go?Texas-bred frontman Win Butler knew he and his wife Régine had a calling to continue, so the Montreal team that constitutes Arcade Fire's artistic core re-gathered some players - Tim Kingsbury, Richard Parry, Howard Bilerman and Win's little brother Will - with the goal of pursuing what was slowly shaping up to be one of this city's big new hopes.
Spanning broad and unrestricted quasi-pop musical terrain, the six players - and often more - of Arcade Fire layer a guitar/bass/drums foundation with accordion, mandolin, French horn, oboe, tambourine, keyboards and more to build their emo-folk, orchestral arrangements. All of this with the intention of arriving at "some sort of fucked-up pop" which, at the very least, is "definitely not post-rock."
"It's not coming from an indie rock mentality. I don't even know what that means," assures Butler. "For me and Régine, the whole indie rock thing is new to us... there aren't that many indie rock bands that we really like."
With a penchant for "pop music that's really scary, that's trying to reach out to people but is still kind of dangerous," Butler attributes the expansive nature
of Arcade Fire to an early and formative love for The Cure, New Order and The Clash on his part, crossed with Régine's affinity for avant and old jazz, and medieval music. The influences are far from direct. On the band's self-titled release from last year (which features the old lineup), a very twisted interpretation of the above references is vaguely detectable. But today's Arcade Fire (unrecorded as yet) comes with more of an unrefined and experimental feel, in large part due to its current and close-knit multi-membership.
"We find that something really little can add a lot to a song, details that are impossible to add if you're, say, a three-piece. Our sound would just not be possible without this many members. This band is one where a lot of people do a lot of work," says Butler.
"I mean, we're also really close, it's like being married to five or six people all together in this weird relationship. I mean, we eat dinner all together. We're the only people who show up to each other's Christmas parties. I think the closeness comes out when we play."
Maybe something about this togetherness has made Arcade Fire less tolerant of the same old. They crave not only new sonic development but new audiences - where ears aren't comparing past efforts to present ones.
"It's so stale with the same crowds at everything," Butler complains.
"But now it's neat: There are a lot more French kids coming to the shows. Still, it's so segregated, the French and English here. I would love to do a show with young French bands - just to cross over."
The Arcade Fire
with the Barmitzvah Brothers at Sala Rossa (4848 St. Laurent), Jan. 21
I used to live in Montreal.The moment that I first heard "Funeral" was like the first time I arrived in that city, bold ,beautiful ,suffocating ,contaminating ,and life altering.The Arcade fire deserve to have the entire music community kneeling down , begging for forgiveness,for being so fucking mediocre.
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Jason Wells
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| THE ARCADE FIRE flares up a tad too late to set the world on fire |
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Frankensteining alterna folk-rock with some pretty pop accents isn't exactly easy. You could probably find a lot of bands that have tried this particular fussion and fallen quietly into oblivion. Although it is a natural blend it seems as if pop still carries to much of a stigma for too many people to give it the credit it deserves. I think you can safely lay that blame on Britney and the rest of her ilk for making pop a dirty word.
Anyways, back to The Arcade Fire...
Unlike Fleetwood Mac who were on the verge of disbanding before they give this rock god thing one last fortuitous whirl, Arcade Fire won't be so lucky. Not only are they NOT the only band who's stumbled onto this fussion but there are those who've climbed the mountain and are less than ready to surrender that position anytime soon. I'm pretty sure I could list off bands like The White Stripes and such but I figure you know who I'm talking about within the context of this write-up.
Arcade Fire is good but they've gotten to the dance a bit too late to make a big entrance. Sorry but it's true.
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Pedro Eggers
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