Arcade Fire

Arcade Fire EP (2003) C+

Funeral (2004) B

Neon Bible (2007) A+

1. (Antichrist Televison Blues)
2. No Cars Go
3. Keep the Car Running
4. Neighbourhood #2 (Laika)

On Neon Bible, Win Butler's vocal problems appear more or less solved. This is partly thanks to better lyrics, but the remake of "No Cars Go" shows how far they've come in terms of power and grandeur (and budget). Neon Bible is pretty close to a great album, especially if you skip the tracks with the horror organ -- way too E. Power Biggs for my liking. But "Keep the Car Running" shows what a band can do with -- is it a harpsichord? Or a weirdly treated piano? The song is a peak among Butler's stories of unease, the backbeated momentum matching the confession of the archetypal wanted man. What's old is new again: a world where a fair trial isn't something you can expect anymore. Life is no longer about whether God and the government are on our side, it's about whether we're on their side. This inspires the album's finest song: the "Antichrist" is scared shitless of losing his groomed-for-CCM-stardom daughter -- to terrorist attack, but more likely to the secular, sexual world outside her cage. The song nails the fear that feeds religions and politicians. Nobody can afford to be rational unless they have some kind of personal security -- everyone needs a place where no cars go.