Arcade Fire - 'We Used To Wait'
It starts and ends with a chattering piano. Pounding away in martial half-beats like Elton John's car alarm.
Someone in Arcade Fire - let's face it, the piano player - is going to wind up with carpal tunnel syndrome playing this every night. They only really get a break about three-quarters of the way through and even then, there are still some feeble stabs every now and then, like the poor agonised pianist is trying, and failing, to raise their swollen claws to the keyboard while the band play on, uncaring and oblivious.
And if that all sounds very dramatic, well it's that kind of song. A gritted-teeth sort of a thing, a marking of diminishment, of the decline in the quality of life since we all stopped writing proper real paper letters to each other. It also takes the form of a list of the normal things you take for granted until you can no longer do them, and then you'd give anything to still be able to.
Scouting For Girls singing about the evils of reality TV, it is not.
(No video, sorry.)
Now, cards on the table, while I am a fan of lots of people who make music which is entirely serious and mostly devoid of sex or fun - *waves at Radiohead* - Arcade Fire have never done it for me. I want them to, they won't. You can draw your own conclusions about what that says about them or me, but the fact remains that while they make music which makes a lot of people lose their cool completely, they just leave me cold. I say this having seen the 91Èȱ¬ Music album review, which is VERY POSITIVE INDEED.
Well, phooey. It's no act of cultural bravery to say you don't enjoy something other people do - even if it is JLS - and there's no glee to rubbishing something which is clearly Of Quality. But c'mon, I can't be the only person with ears who finds this to be, well, a load of maudlin silliness, can I?
Yes, it has a lot to recommend it. In fact, here are some examples:
The bit where Win Butler sings "how something so small could keep you alive" about GETTING A LETTER IN THE POST.
The way the band play like religious zealots, and you can HEAR that they do.
The reverberated whiplash crack.
The way it pulls at your attention, via the medium of wilful disregard for the normal conventions of rhythm and bar length.
That undefined woozy, ghostly whoosh noise you can sort of half-hear, pitched somewhere between a bowed saw, a pedal steel and a flute.
The way it builds from something small and sad to something huge and furious...about GETTING A LETTER IN THE POST.
But - and this is the acid test - I find I'm a happier, more productive, better person when it is taken out of the CD player and put in a drawer. So that is that.
Download: Out now
91Èȱ¬ Music page
(Fraser McAlpine)
"A song about innocence lost, and uncertainty in the face of rapid change."
"It's bloody Arcade Fire and this is incredibly polished Indie radio rock."
"Arcade Fire didn't let you down. As a matter of fact they took the bar and set it higher."
Comment number 1.
At 28th Jul 2010, OddOne wrote:Not their best song, but I'll agree with the 3 star rating.
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Comment number 2.
At 29th Jul 2010, spirit wrote:Well I like the song . Although its not in the same class as NO CARS GO or REBELLION . But come on , lets get the name of this fantastic band right . Its not The Arcade Fire , its ARCADE FIRE .
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Comment number 3.
At 30th Jul 2010, kutox wrote:I know a lot about Arcade Fire but I've never really taken a huge interest in them. But I really like this song
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Comment number 4.
At 30th Jul 2010, spirit wrote:Come on Radio 1 . This band is called ARCADE FIRE ! This is basic . What next ? THE HURTS ? THE FRANZ FERDINAND ? THE INTERPOL ? THE THE THE ?
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Comment number 5.
At 30th Jul 2010, OddOne wrote:The The xx? It's THE winner... THE DEFO
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Comment number 6.
At 31st Jul 2010, Fraser McAlpine - wrote:There we go, all fixed now.
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Comment number 7.
At 31st Jul 2010, OddOne wrote:Cheers'en :)
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Comment number 8.
At 2nd Aug 2010, thranjax wrote:I am going to be very fair about this and not review this track as such until I have listened to the whole Suburbs album, as it seems to be intended as a loose concept album. I like the idea of a song about post however, this should be coupled with a cover of the Postman Pat theme for maximum indie kudos. Now i scream the chorus again? Have to say, you need a better chorus in order to carry off that lyrical conceit.
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