Looking back at the early 2000’s, both the US and UK saw a complete shift in popularity within the music industry and, we witnessed a massive surge in back-to-basics guitar music…a new wave of modern indie rock was upon us. Bands from both sides of the pond like THE KILLERS and ARCTIC MONKEYS had garnered huge critical and commercial acclaim and soon, like with most trends, we found ourselves utterly swamped with radio-friendly rock bands. In what became known as the “indie landfill”, there were more bands than you could shake a vintage Telecaster at and eventually the scene imploded, with many bands rapidly declining in relevancy. One band didn’t stick to such a rigid formula however…ARCADE FIRE. The Canadian multi-instrumentalist ensemble were a far more artsy in their approach to music, with their sweeping, dramatic and often progressive blend of indie, pop and shoegaze, and, in 2017, we find them releasing album number five; “Everything Now”…very much a sign of the times or are they simply a bunch of impatient bastards? Let’s find out…
The album opens up with “Everything_Now (Continued)”, a brief intro piece, at less than a minute it’s very minimalistic, almost jarred synths descending into a flurry of desperate vocals in a flash of intensity and as quickly as it comes to life it abruptly jerks to a halt, jumping into track one proper; “Everything Now”…and everything suddenly takes a far more jovial, up-beat turn for the better. Incredibly light and happy in tone, this piano led soft pop track is fueled with a gentle, funk inspired rhythm…vocalist Win Butler has a very subdued approach and there’s nothing really negative to say about this track, it’s simply happy and a decent start to the album. For the most part an equally restrained sound is carried throughout the album…tracks such as “Put Your Money On Me” is layered with delicate soulful qualities throughout another soft-funk offering, barely getting out of second gear throughout, highlighting the shoegaze elements to the bands song writing.
“Creature Comfort” has deeper, bass-heavy electronics running throughout, it’s a darker sound with certain aspects harking back to the original 80’s new-wave indie boom…musically it’s really quite retro without trying too hard to be, and again, has a really jovial vibe, while “Electric Blue” is an incredibly light, crystal-fragile dose of synth pop, tinkling along with vocals sounding like a Jigglypuff siphoning helium out of a rectal cavity using a broken harmonica…seriously, Régine has some high pitched vocals bordering on painful to listen to, they’re almost distracting. A surprising highlight however comes in the form of “Infinite Content”…a short dose of post punk, only negated by a sense of repetition….the rest of the album generally plods along with a sense of lacking…the tracks on offer here aren’t unpleasant, but there’s little in means of energy or enthusiasm driving the album. “Everything Now” but, sadly nothing entirely spectacular. [5]
The album opens up with “Everything_Now (Continued)”, a brief intro piece, at less than a minute it’s very minimalistic, almost jarred synths descending into a flurry of desperate vocals in a flash of intensity and as quickly as it comes to life it abruptly jerks to a halt, jumping into track one proper; “Everything Now”…and everything suddenly takes a far more jovial, up-beat turn for the better. Incredibly light and happy in tone, this piano led soft pop track is fueled with a gentle, funk inspired rhythm…vocalist Win Butler has a very subdued approach and there’s nothing really negative to say about this track, it’s simply happy and a decent start to the album. For the most part an equally restrained sound is carried throughout the album…tracks such as “Put Your Money On Me” is layered with delicate soulful qualities throughout another soft-funk offering, barely getting out of second gear throughout, highlighting the shoegaze elements to the bands song writing.
“Creature Comfort” has deeper, bass-heavy electronics running throughout, it’s a darker sound with certain aspects harking back to the original 80’s new-wave indie boom…musically it’s really quite retro without trying too hard to be, and again, has a really jovial vibe, while “Electric Blue” is an incredibly light, crystal-fragile dose of synth pop, tinkling along with vocals sounding like a Jigglypuff siphoning helium out of a rectal cavity using a broken harmonica…seriously, Régine has some high pitched vocals bordering on painful to listen to, they’re almost distracting. A surprising highlight however comes in the form of “Infinite Content”…a short dose of post punk, only negated by a sense of repetition….the rest of the album generally plods along with a sense of lacking…the tracks on offer here aren’t unpleasant, but there’s little in means of energy or enthusiasm driving the album. “Everything Now” but, sadly nothing entirely spectacular. [5]
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