Funeral, the Arcade Fire's 2004 debut album, has been adored like few others in the indie rock community. Its lush orchestration, epic presentation and theatrical songwriting directly vaulted the band into the heights of indie stardom (and garnered an unusually rabid fan base to boot).
With so much universal acclaim (everybody was eager to hear what they'd come out with next) the Arcade Fire released "Intervention" on iTunes as a charity single for Partners in Health. It was the first preview of what the band's sophomore album, Neon Bible, would sound like. Rabid fans around the world held their breath in a mixture of exhilaration and trepidation as they pressed "play" and the first few notes of a new Arcade Fire song washed over their speaker set.
"Intervention" is a clear shift from the thematic territory of the brooding, self-reflective Funeral. Here, Arcade Fire lash out with a newfound brand of orchestral muscle and poisonous lyricism as frontman Win Butler methodically condemns the institutions of war, money and religion. While Funeral showed the band making peace with the world, Neon Bible picks open the wounds all over again -- the rejection of societal norms is a consistent theme for the record. Indeed, it seems that Butler isn't happy with anything at all, be it MTV or the U.S. government or FM radio.
With the notable exceptions of "Black Mirror" and "My Body is a Cage," however, none of the music sounds as apocalyptic as the lyrics might suggest. Even as Butler insists, "Their voices when they scream / they make no sound / I want to see the cities rust" on "(Antichrist Television Blues)," the instrumentation backing his voice sounds like something straight out of Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA. Fans singing along with the bouncy UK single "Keep the Car Running" might find it easy to forget that the song is actually about a man who is being relentlessly pursued by the government (or some similarly oppressive entity).
This juxtaposition undermines most of the album's lyrical content, and brings into question the sincerity of the band's messages. With their previous material, Arcade Fire's anthems were filled with unquestionable passion and honesty. Neon Bible feels like the band is settling down into its own pre-established formula (perhaps with a few minor advances in song-writing and instrumental technique) and complaining about generic issues. In essence, the album retreads the same musical ground as Funeral with less passion and a bigger production budget.
Which is not to say that Neon Bible is a bad album; in fact, it's an excellent collection of songs. Highlights include the aforementioned "Black Mirror," "Ocean of Noise" and "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations," which are among the band's finest tracks to date. The group's newfound confidence, sleeker production and refined songwriting will doubtless win over new listeners. Neon Bible will be at least a mildly satisfactory follow-up for most hardcore Arcade Fire fans.
But, in the end, Neon Bible is no Funeral. The dramatic tension is less genuine, the build-ups less cathartic, the words less poignant. Neon Bible never achieves the heights of its predecessor. It, however, shows a band with real talent and -- perhaps more importantly -- staying power. With any luck, Funeral and Neon Bible are just two in a long series of great albums to come.
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