TOP 12 OF 2007: #11. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

#11
Arcade Fire
Neon Bible

With three years having passed since the release of Funeral, Montreal-based collective Arcade Fire was faced with the unenviable task of attempting to match the intensity, grandiosity and sheer beauty of their nearly universally lauded debut. Did they succeed? Well, yes and no.

On the one hand, Neon Bible exhibits a newfound subtlety, with songs that whisper and sigh as often as they shout. This works brilliantly on such tracks as “Antichrist Television Blues” and “My Body Is a Cage,” where Win Butler's winsome croon seems to summon an ever-growing chorus of voices and instruments out of the ether, flooding the emptiness with a pure white light. Similarly, the more fully orchestrated numbers, such as the opener “Black Mirror” and the re-worked “No Cars Go,” which first appeared on their 2003 self-titled EP, channel an expansive vision that, at times, exceeds even the heights reached on Funeral.

However, there are too many moments where the shout sounds more like a mumble, and where Butler's distinctive delivery comes a bit too close to that of a Bruce Springsteen impersonator. That inconsistency is ultimately what brings Neon Bible back down to earth, rendering it a very good record rather than a brilliant one.