Arcade Fire - WE

Looking forward to finally listening to this tomorrow

was able to finally listen to the first half of this while taking a shower. so far so good and really like "Age of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole)," hope to finish this sometime tonight.

https://slate.com/culture/2022/05/arcade-fire-we-album-reviews.html?fbclid=IwAR2ChfXjyCRJeAJwvSo1b1NL7vbuWv7bVlT0DW4HdsT96cZeju20fH0mmCo

weird review bc it's not like this is getting overwhelmingly positive reception - consensus seems to be more around a lukewarm "well it's better than the last one or two". there are some rave reviews but there were even for everything now.

and what's with the insistence that "generation a" should have been on the album when it's just as bad as the very worst material from everything now

https://www.nme.com/news/music/arcade-fire-seemingly-speak-out-about-abortion-rights-during-snl-performance-3220480

I really like this album

xxp a thesis in search of an album

made a couple false starts with this. it's just too dang sunny out.

i like “creature comfort” more than any song on the new one :(

and frankly the 1975 are way better at attempting whatever win’s trying to do lyrically

With this album as the final bit of evidence I need, I've concluded that I just don't think the Arcade Fire make very interesting synthpop, though they try to do it again and again.

And End of the Empire is an absolutely lethal, endless dead spot so early in this record.

I like do like The Lightning, and Lookout Kid made me smile.

and frankly the 1975 are way better at attempting whatever win’s trying to do lyrically

a big part of the difference is that matty has fun with it while win always comes across as so self-serious

but the lyrics on this one aren't as much of an active hindrance as they were on the last one, it's only really "end of the empire" where how bad they are is at the forefront like on everything now. i somehow barely notice the goofy lines in "rabbit hole" ("born into the abyss/new phone who's this").

the real successes here are "age of anxiety" i & ii and "the lightning". only really dislike "end of the empire" but the rest is a bit undercooked. incredibly sad that coldplay were recently able to do a 10 minute epic better than arcade fire.

“rabbit hole” is very…. bad imo

surface level pleasant but doesn’t work as a song for me in the least

i thought i would feel better about this record after a second listen but instead i’m vowing to never listen to “end of the empire” voluntarily again

i also… don’t get “lookout kid.” melody is cloying as fuck and indefensible opinion ahoy but i think kids are cool and all but i’m never having any of my own and i don’t give a shit about what the song is trying to say

very disappointed to discover that despite the pretentious af tracklist there are only two songs with any interrelated parts at all, “end of the empire” (ew) and “the lightning” (second half is dope and way too short)

i mean now that i’m looking at the tracklist i’m realizing they telegraphed this a bit

I was basically liking this as background music and then one song came on that made me be like "ugh, what's this, it sounds like the thing that's supposed to be the big emotional number from a musical that closed in previews" and it's "End of the Empire," the same one all you guys hate

the first track is really good and it totally gets you amped for an arcade fire record that the rest largely fails to be

also “race and religion”…. woof

First two tracks not bad before it gets equal parts dull and pompous.

Interesting how "Unconditional II" becomes the second stadium rock band (after Coldplay's "Talk") to borrow heavily from "Computerlove".

Kinda feel like New Order's "Temptation" and "Procession" are a wellspring of inspiration for this band too; I started humming the former's melody over the snares of the Rabbit HOle track.

lol okay, yes, "End of the Empire" is terrible. The first part, the part that was a super transparent Bowie bite, wasn't bad, but it just kept getting worse and worse.

I'm not sure about this album now, I was impressed when I played it for the 1st time as background music but on closer inspection it's not really hitting me.

They also have a commercial out that is playing all the time for Dolby System's, which is strange. It hypes the new album and Dolby.