![\"Neon](\"http:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/images\/neonbible.jpg\")
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2003 was a hard year for The Arcade Fire. They were about to make it big, having just released an EP and getting ready to record their first full-length album, when close friends and family members started dying off left and right. It was out of this period of darkness and pain that The Arcade Fire released Funeral <\/em>in 2004, a majestic and sprawling album that couldn\u2019t keep its mind off of death and God.<\/p>\n On their new album Neon Bible<\/em>, it seems The Arcade Fire are mad at something, and that something is divine. I\u2019m talking about the church. This album is full of problems that seem to have no solutions. But in the end, it all points back to one Person.<\/p>\n Black Mirror Keep the Car Running Neon Bible Intervention Black Wave\/Bad Vibrations Ocean of Noise The Well and the Lighthouse (Antichrist Television Blues)<\/strong> Windowsill<\/strong> No Cars Go<\/strong> My Body is\u00a0A Cage<\/strong> 2003 was a hard year for The Arcade Fire. They were about to make it big, having just released an EP and getting ready to record their first full-length album, when close friends and family members started dying off left … Continue reading
\n<\/strong>This deep, dark song starts this album off quite…well, darkly. The lyrics speak of a black mirror that \u201cknow no reflection\u201d yet at the same time casts your reflection back at you. It\u2019s incredibly darker than anything that was on Funeral, <\/em>and thus a very abrupt change in style. It\u2019s also a perfect taste of what the rest of this album will sound like.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>This song would be a hit if it\u00a0were released as a single in America. It\u2019s brighter sounding than Black Mirror and has a steady beat. The song comes from the point of view of a man that is running from men that \u201care trying to take me away.\u201d I think this is actually a great analogy for the Grim Reaper or Death. Thus, keep the car running so I can stay away from it.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The title song is actually the quietest and shortest song on the album, coming in at a mere two minutes, sixteen seconds. It\u2019s actually quite a pretty song, with little electronic blips and beeps coming in and out and the guitar picking out a sparse melody. The lyrics are cryptic and hard to decipher. It seems as if lead singer Win Butler is trying to get across the point that people in church now don\u2019t learn for themselves, that they let the preacher tell them what to believe. This comes across in the line \u201cWhat I know is what you know is right.\u201d<\/em> All in all, it\u2019s all too short.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>A huge church organ opens up this track, which is the closest the band gets to sounding like they did on Funeral. <\/em>If you pay attention to the lyrics, it\u2019s a\u00a0scathing song talking about \u201cworking for the church while your family dies.\u201d It seems as if the song is told from the perspective\u00a0of a tired, hard-hearted person who\u2019s just leading a hard life. But because they believe that the Church heals everything if you work for it faithfully, when you\u2019re \u201csinging hallelujah with the fear in your heart,\u201d everything will be alright. But who knows, that\u2019s just the way I see it<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Listening to the first part of this song makes me feel as if I\u2019m watching The Never-Ending Story. I don\u2019t know, it\u2019s just me. Regine Chassagne, Win Butler\u2019s wife, sings the lead on the first half of the song, telling a story from the point of view of a person that\u2019s on the run from the law. Or maybe it\u2019s the whole death thing again. There\u2019s a swift change between lead vocalists, and Win takes over, singing on top of a thundering background of drums and guitars. He starts singing about how nothing lasts forever and a \u201cgreat black wave in the middle of the sea for you and me.”<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>This song is actually a lot calmer than its title suggests. Black Wave flows right into this song about a relationship gone bad. You know it\u2019s going bad when there\u2019s an \u201cocean of violence\u201d between you and the one you\u2019re with. The song starts out calmly, with sparse guitar and piano, but builds up into a nice crescendo with a full orchestra.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>This song drives me crazy. Not because it\u2019s a bad song. It is. It\u2019s got an 80\u2019s music type feel with some great harmonies. It\u2019s just that I can\u2019t figure out what the heck it\u2019s about. It seems to be told from the point of view from a man serving time for a crime. He talks about hearing a voice in a well, saying, \u201cSee that silver shine?\u201d Does that imply that he is doing time for stealing? Perhaps. It then moves on to him talking about being resurrected (being set free?) and living in a lighthouse. <\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n
\nNow here\u2019s how you write good lyrics. Win takes the position of a man praying to God, calling himself a good, God-fearing, Christian man and in the next breath asking God to make his daughter a star. The rest of the song is the man telling his daughter to go up on that stage so that people can see what God\u2019s work really is, but he\u2019s really in it for the money. The last is the punch line, \u201cSo tell me Lord, am I the antichrist?\u201d Abrupt end.<\/p>\n
\nA quiet, acoustic number that really builds up, Win trades in, the symbolic, cryptic imagery, for blunt, straightforward language, mentioning MTV and America by name. The song is a angry one, describing the thing the speaker doesn\u2019t want to hear, that he doesn\u2019t \u201cwant to see on his windowsill no more.\u201d It builds into a huge, big chorus before finally ending the way it began.<\/p>\n
\nThe simplest song lyrically, but probably the best on the record. The lyrics simply mention that they know a place where no planes, spaceships, cars, or any other form of transport go. Personally, I think it\u2019s about heaven. The music really builds up on this, ending in a beautiful orchestral crescendo with the entire band singing a chorus of \u201cah\u2019s\u201d together.<\/p>\n
\nThe album closer is another quiet, creepy one that turns huge in the end. Win starts singing about his body being a cage, keeping him from dancing with the one that he loves. The song slowly builds up, until the church organ comes crashing in again. And in the end, it all goes back to a prayer to the Divine, pleading to \u201cset my spirit free.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"