Arcade Fire - Everything Now


Arcade Fire
Everything Now
2017
Spotify

Arcade Fire had a bit of a choice on their first album since 2013; Would they double down on the earnest Americana, or shift into something new? On Everything Now the answer is lighter disco and new wave inspired tunes that are thin on the depth but thick with dance. "Signs of Life" is a straight disco jam off the multicolored floor, but while it's a nice little dance tune it's missing that wall of emotion that Arcade Fire are usually so good at. The title track does create this really great four on the floor beat and then infuses Arcade Fire's style on top of that creating this really great depth of sound. Yet, the momentum is lost so quickly and the next few songs sort of just kind of go through the motions. On "Creature Comfort" this really great almost Radiohead opening sort of goes no where, and the song becomes a nice groove but lyrics that are annoying at best. Lyrics have always been one of Arcade Fire's biggest assets, but here they are content to repeate themselves into infinity and barely dip their tow in the subject matter they are getting into. Arcade Fire were passion laid bare, pushing forward this idea that the art they created mattered but on Everything Now they seem distant especially frontman Win Butler. It is quite amazing that they would allow "Peter Pan" to even be put out, it is honestly that bad. The delivery, the tone everything on "Peter Pan" feels simply ridiculous not the Arcade Fire we have come to love.

"Chemistry" tries to create this honky tonk sing-a-long but it is so silly there is no chance people can buy into this. What you do notice is that in a big crowd these songs might work and perhaps a heavy dose of touring could have lead to this record. The real sore thumb out of all of these though is the "Infinite Content" duo of songs. The first (minus an underscore) is a high paced almost punk song while the second is the same song but done in a more old school country style. It is mind numbingly painful to listen to with about 10 words worth of lyrics and a sound that is just...off. You keep hoping they will lock in, find something with all this but it just never really happens. That is a bit of a hypnosis that happens on "Electric Blue" almost a slight bit of trance, but it's so subtle that it seems doubtful it was an intent. Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter co-produces the record perhaps the reason for the disco vibes, but you would just expect this group to do better. How an album that is only 47 minutes can feel this long is really beyond me, but by the time "Put Your Money On Me" graciously ends you cannot believe you still have two more tracks to get through. The first track is the ending of the last track, an interesting infinite feedback loop idea, but you just have to ask yourself why? This doesn't feel like Arcade Fire, this doesn't feel like Daft Punk so maybe it is just one big joke and next week they will drop the real album, we can only hope.

5.0 out of 10

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