Funeral

The Arcade Fire: Win Butler (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric 12-string guitar, piano, synthesizer, bass guitar); Regine Chassagne (vocals, accordion, recorder, piano, synthesizer, xylophone, drums, percussion); Howard Bilerman (guitar, drums); Richard Reed Parry (accordion, piano, organ, synthesizer, xylophone, double bass, percussion); William Butler (synthesizer, xylophone, bass instrument, percussion).

This Montreal ensemble's fiery debut is marked by surging guitars, soulful strings, driving drums, brilliant bass lines, and the quavering vocals of married couple Win Butler and Regine Chassagne. The group's song structures careen through a vast territory of musical and personal history, with lyrics warm with memories of childhood neighborhoods and deceased loved ones, resulting in an alternating current of joy and sadness.

Favorably compared to the Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, and Broken Social Scene, the Arcade Fire's sound seems to come from a lifetime of listening to the Cure, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, and many others--even a dose of soul gets worked into these grand anthems. Chassagne delivers some spellbinding vocals on "Haiti," while the tinkling piano and strings on "Crown of Love" conjure up a heartbroken surfside prom. In 2004, this made many critics' year-end lists, and it's no wonder--the songs on FUNERAL are so packed with unique instrumentation, mesmerizing build-ups, and galvanizing tempo changes that they seem culled from some enigmatic, decade-spanning rock anthology.

What the critics say...

Rolling Stone (p.173) - 4 stars out of 5 - "FUNERAL aches with elegiac intensity....FUNERAL captures the agony and even ecstasy of surviving death all around you."
Rolling Stone (p.141) - Included in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Records Of 2004 - "[W]ith lavishly orchestrated, emotionally stunning tales..."
Entertainment Weekly (p.81) - "FUNERAL is a lovely, uplifting, and often pleasingly grandiose whirl through a panoply of sounds..." - Grade: B+
Uncut (p.104) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Their songs strike out at unexpected angles, bringing to mind a morbidly romantic 19th-century Radiohead."
Magnet (p.100) - "[A] compelling debut....FUNERAL deals with grief by obsessing over new relations and future births, decorating each lost leaf in brilliant fall colors."
CMJ (p.38) - "Putting the 'fun' back in FUNERAL, the debut disc from Montreal indie-pop sextet Arcade Fire exhumes instrumentation extinct since third-grade music class and sets them ablaze in anything but a macabre fashion."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.58) - Ranked #2 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2005" - "[T]he Montreal orch-rock sextet's debut was fervent and uplifting."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.59) - Ranked #60 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "Joyful, original and sweet."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.96) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Echoes of Wire at their mid-'80s jackhammer funk zenith abound on 'Rebellion', while yearning cellos frame a breathtaking turn from Chassagne on 'In the Backseat'."