The Suburbs [2 LP]

by Arcade Fire

Overview

Montreal's Arcade Fire successfully avoided the sophomore slump with 2007's apocalyptic Neon Bible. Heavier and more uncertain than their nearly perfect, darkly optimistic 2004 debut, the album aimed for the nosebleed section and left a red mess. Having already fled the cold comforts of suburbia on Funeral and suffered beneath the weight of the world on Neon Bible, it seems fitting that a band once so consumed with spiritual and social middle-class fury should find peace "under the overpass in the parking lot." If nostalgia is just pain recalled, repaired, and resold, then The Suburbs is its sales manual. Inspired by brothers Win and William Butler's suburban Houston, Texas upbringing, the 16-track record plays out like a long lost summer weekend, with the jaunty but melancholy Kinks/Bowie-esque title cut serving as its bookends. Meticulously paced and conservatively grand, fans looking for the instant gratification of past anthems like "Wake Up" and "Intervention" will find themselves reluctantly defending The Suburbs upon first listen, but anyone who remembers excitedly jumping into a friend's car on a sleepy Friday night armed with heartache, hope, and no agenda knows that patience is key. Multiple spins reveal a work that's as triumphant and soul-slamming as it is sentimental and mature. At its most spirited, like on "Empty Room," "Rococo," "City with No Children," "Half Light II (No Celebration)," "We Used to Wait," and the glorious Regine Chassagne-led "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)," the latter of which threatens to break into Blondie's "Heart of Glass" at any moment, Arcade Fire make the suburbs feel positively electric. Quieter moments reveal a changing of the guard, as Win trades in the Springsteen-isms of Neon Bible for Neil Young on "Wasted Hours," and the ornate rage of Funeral for the simplicity of a line like "Let's go for a drive and see the town tonight/There's nothing to do, but I don't mind when I'm with you," from album highlight "Suburban War." The Suburbs feels like Richard Linklater's Dazed & Confused for the Y generation. It's serious without being preachy, cynical without dissolving into apathy, and whimsical enough to keep both sentiments in line, and of all of their records, it may be the one that ages the best. ~ James Christopher Monger

Product Details

Release Date:	12/22/2017
Label:	Sony Music
UPC:	0889854626310
Rank:	15519

Tracks

Disc 1

1. The Suburbs
2. Ready to Start
3. Modern Man
4. Rococo
5. Empty Room
6. City With No Children
7. Half Light I
8. Half Light II (No Celebration)

Disc 2

9. Month of May
10. Wasted Hours
11. Deep Blue
12. We Used to Wait
13. Sprawl I (Flatland)
14. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
15. Suburban War
16. The Suburbs (Continued)

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Arcade Fire   Primary Artist
David Byrne   Vocals,Featured Artist
Caleb Burhans   Strings
Markus Dravs   Co-Producer
Owen Pallett   Strings
Rob Moose   Strings
Spike Jonze   Director
Sarah Neufeld   Strings
Colin Stetson   Saxophone
Jeremy Gara   Drums
Pietro Amato   French Horn
Richard Reed Parry   Strings
Win Butler   Vocals
Regine Chassagne   Vocals,Keyboards
Tim Kingsbury   Bass
Ben Russell   Strings
Clarice Jensen   Strings
Nadia Sirota   Strings
Marika Shaw   Strings
Yuki Numata   Strings

Technical Credits

Mark Lawson   Engineer
Craig Silvey   Mixing
Arcade Fire   Mixing,Arranger,Composer,Producer,Executive Producer,String Arrangements
Markus Dravs   Producer
Nick Launay   Mixing
Owen Pallett   String Arrangements
Brian Thorn   Assistant,Assistant Engineer
George Marino   Mastering Engineer
Spike Jonze   Composer
Sarah Neufeld   Arranger,Composer,Producer,Group Member
Noah Goldstein   Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Jeremy Gara   Arranger,Composer,Producer,Group Member
Marcus Paquin   Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Richard Reed Parry   Arranger,Composer,Producer,Group Member
Win Butler   Arranger,Composer,Producer
Regine Chassagne   Arranger,Composer,Producer,Group Member
Brad Bell   Assistant,Assistant Engineer
Don Murnaghan   Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Adam Greenspan   Assistant,Assistant Engineer
Tim Kingsbury   Arranger,Composer,Producer,Group Member
Will Butler   Arranger,Composer,Producer,Group Member
Scott Rodger   Executive Producer
Vincent Landay   Producer
Vincent Morisset   Art Direction
Caroline Robert   Design
Gabriel Jones   Photography
Joey Matthews   Assistant
Stephane Fiore   Assistant