Arcade's Neon Bible appropriately epic

The Arcade Fire: Neon Bible

VICTORIA (CUP) -- While much has been made of Al Gore's sudden ascension to rock stardom, perhaps just as unlikely has been the sudden media domination of Montreal's ragtag Arcade Fire. Some critics have compared the hype of their latest, Neon Bible, to that surrounding Coldplay's X&Y and the White Stripe's Get Behind me Satan.

But while those albums felt rushed to capitalize on enormous public interest, Neon Bible feels like a more natural birth. The songs feel complete, tight and, in every sense, epic. While Funeral mapped a very personal course, this album veers much more into the territory of societal reflection, with themes only hinted at by earlier tracks like “Rebellion/Lies”.

The soaring “Black Wave/Bad Vibrations” looks at a world in flux, where indifferent people exhaust resources and children starve through a false sense of charity, while “Ocean of Noise” mourns the loss of individuality in an increasingly corporate atmosphere. A religious undercurrent is especially notable.

Whether lamenting holy war (the wary “Windowsill”) or institutional hypocrisy (first single “Intervention”) the album is sweeping thematically where the band had primarily dealt with the personal depths of loss and mourning before.

Finally endowed with an orchestra and any manner of archaic noisemaker (hurdy-gurdy and church pipe organ, among others), the band seems focused on filling cavernous halls everywhere. Everything sounds larger. The vocals are less group shouting and more lush chorals. Each song builds from simple arrangements to layers of sound, almost in formula, before a triumphant crash.

The Arcade Fire has made the leap to widespread acclaim just as their veneer has evolved from ragtag troubadour-hood to a cohesive bell orchestra with a grandiose sense of purpose. And while this leap could have easily collapsed under limp songwriting, Win Butler and Régine Chassange's remarkable ear for what works keeps this album consistently fresh (even a rearrangement of “No Cars Go”, originally from their self-titled 2002 EP, sounds vibrant and new).

This album is a triumph from a band whose best hope should have been to avoid a “sophomore slump.” Neon Bible proves to be heady, ambitious stuff executed with great clarity.