Kuedo-Severant

After my "meh" reaction to the Arcade Fire album from my last post I felt like I needed to listen to and blog about something more positive just so that I could maintain the momentum of writing. Therefore I deliberately chose this album, rather than let shuffle choose for me because I've listened to it often at least in comparison to most of the stuff included in this blog.

In addition to Heavy Metal, my other seminal influence is electronic music from the 80s like Yazoo, Human League and Kraftwerk and this album has echoes of that period.

I believe, in terms of genre, it's what  "The Kids" call "Chillwave" . It's almost entirely instrumental and, to my ear, sounds like Kraftwerk gave Vangelis a hand at writing the music for Blade Runner while, at the same time, inventing Drum & Bass in Brian Eno's studio while he made Music for Airports.

Frankly, I love it. The titles for each piece, I can't call them songs, are pretty obscure such as "Ascension Phase and, my favourite, "Visioning Shared Tomorrows". However, the lack of a narrative actually draws you into the music rather than excludes you. There's space that allows you to really listen and engage with what's going on in the piece. This is a treat and gives a jaded pair of ears a real lift.

ARCADE FIRE-THE SUBURBS

Right, first blog posting for a while. Why's that? Well, mainly, I just got out of the habit for a bit. However, the other reason has to do with this album. This isn't the only Arcade Fire album I have but it's the first one to shuffle onto my blog play list and I've listened to it quite a bit over the last few weeks to try and get to know it. It's, both, musically and lyrically quite diverse, there are some moments of dry humour, and it's sound can't be pigeon holed, which is a good thing but I haven't really managed to engage with it at all. I don't hate it in the way I hated the Mumford and Sons album, it just feels like it all passes me by.

Considering how many times I've listened to it, I'd have expected to become more familiar with the lyrics of individual tracks or at least be able to identify the name of the song by now but the reality is that I can't. Which is why it's taken me so long to sit down and write anything.

I know that, both, band and album are loved by the critics and cool kids and expect that if any of them or, indeed, anyone actually reads this blog they'll be shaking their heads with pity but there you go. I think, from memory, I enjoyed Neone Bible and Funeral more but I suppose I'll see if that's still true when they come up on the play list.