Arcade Fire's "WE": My Review (8/10)

Arcade Fire - one of my favorite bands of the last 20 years. Always have high expectations for them. Debut FUNERAL is, of course, a classic. Opening track "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" is in my Top 10 (maybe 5?) songs of all time - the opening song to my early morning running playlist for 10 years. And of course, the band's ultimate anthem - "Wake Up." FUNERAL covered loss and nostalgia for times/youth past. Then a stumble with NEON BIBLE - yes, several outstanding tracks ("Intervention" and "My Body Is A Cage"), but too much filler. Next, THE SUBURBS - great Grammy-winning album (with several songs we all know and love), but yet still slightly overrated. Still - its over-arching theme of conformity resonated. Then REFLEKTOR - under-rated, largely due to its ambitious eclecticism, but lack of over-arching coherent theme. And then EVERYTHING NOW which most, including me, consider a massive stumble - a loss of understanding of who they are (and why we love them). It was Arcade Fire's U2 "Pop" moment. It's hard to be an artist. You understandably want to experiment and evolve - while your fans ("WE") frequently want you to "wash, rinse and repeat" to retain past glories.

Which brings us to the band's just-released WE, which both hearkens back to the past (most notably FUNERAL), but also breaks beautiful new ground (with its notable layers of singular piano-driven, beautiful and lush "quietude"). Consider it Arcade Fire's first Broadway album in its overall musical and lyrical progression and story arc (and I mean that as a compliment). "WE" reminds me of U2's own important bounce back of "All That You Can't Leave Behind" after its "Pop" fizzled. WE represents a return to what Arcade Fire does best - songs that resonate under the umbrella of a single over-arching and universal (and frequently dystopian) theme. And here, that theme is today's age of anxiety - which permeates too much of too many lives - and the band does it essentially in two sides (a nod to full album vinyl listening of the simpler past).

"Side 1" of WE is the "I" side - sobering songs of disconnected isolation, algorithms and angst; whereas "Side 2" is the "WE" side - a return to collective hope, community and humanity. Some reviews have slammed WE for covering well-worn ground here. But hey, what's wrong with that? These are the realities of our time! THAT is precisely what Arcade Fire was born to cover - and they can do it in a way that others can't - frankly, earnestly, and bombastically. THAT is exactly what we DO want. And that's who they are.

So let's did into the two "sides" of WE, shall we?

"Side" 1's despair kicks off with "Age of Anxiety I" - which sets the stage softly, beautifully - and then builds. It flows into "Age of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole)" - a synth-driven pleaser a la Blondie's "Heart of Glass." If you can get past lead singer Win Butler's endless repetition of the words "rabbit hole," then you are already drawn in. But Butler really strikes gold (and covers new Arcade Fire ground) with his gorgeous and thought-provoking piano-driven trilogy "End of the Empire I-III" - beautiful melodies that evoke John Lennon's "Imagine" (after all, it's okay to "borrow" some of that greatness when the results are this good) and even sprinkle in a dose of My Chemical Romance's "The Black Parade." The sobering lyrics matter here. Listen. Really listen. And then we are off to "End of the Empire IV (Sagittarius A)" - another beauty. I've read several reviewers pan Butler's lyrics "I unsubscribe." But I get it. I get what Win and the band are saying here, even if others believe it is too blatant - too much of a hammer. Hey, sometimes people need to just WAKE UP and be hammered to get the picture! This track ends, the Broadway intermission begins, and now we enter "Side 2."

And Side 2 opens in signature Arcade Fire form and style - with "The Lightning I" and "The Lightning II" - the album's first single (and a fine stake in the ground to proclaim, "we are back!"). The Lightning wakes us up - opens our eyes - and tells us to take a look at what really matters amidst all of our global anxiety. And the next track - "Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)" - answers that question. Wow. Wow. Wow. This is WE's standout track - one of the band's best ever - with definite FUNERAL overtones. This song is everything you would want from Arcade Fire - deep, earnest, beautiful lyrics over a majestic melody that essentially begs you to throw your arms up to the heavens. If that sounds a bit over-the-top, just listen to the lyrics, and remember that Win Butler wrote this for his 9 year old son. My family and I were fortunate to experience Butler and the band debut this song live at Coachella a couple weeks back in a magical surprise set. After starting to sing the song, Butler suddenly broke down - stopped - and needed to start again (only then was he "ready to start"). Now we know why. He was overcome with human emotion - emotion about his son, and about playing again to WE after two plus years of Covid lockdown. He was simply overcome. THAT is the power of music. As a father, I get it. This song is an enduring classic - will become a stadium anthem.

And then we reach the album's final two tracks - first with "Unconditional II (Race & Religion)," a Regine Butler song that unfortunately feels completely out-of-place on this album. And here the reviewers are mostly right - the song (especially its clumsy lyrics) just don't work. It's a rare "miss" - WE's disjointed and annoying "Rococo" moment (remember that clumsy clunker from THE SUBURBS?). Guest Peter Gabriel is largely invisible in the shuffle. But thankfully WE's final track - "We" - brings us back to the album's seamless sweeping vision - simply, elegantly. It is the album's denouement. Perhaps not as strong as we would like it to be (certainly when compared to "Unconditional I" and "End of the Empire I-III"). Nonetheless, a fitting end to an album that is worthy of this great band that faces incredibly high expectations precisely for that reason - they are true artists. And here, for the most part, the band and its art shines.

Line up now to buy your tickets to the inevitable WE Broadway show. I certainly will.