Arcade Fire: Reflektor ALBUM REVIEW

It is incredible to see the trajectory of Arcade Fire. They started out as a big band with big ambition, but little fame, to a band that has not only a huge cult following, but also managed to win the Grammy for "Best Album" with their last full length The Suburbs. An album that seemed to satisfy both fans and the newcomers alike, since the album before it was Neon Bible, an album in the bands discography that has just as many fans as it does haters. In fact, with the release of this brand new LP Reflektor, there seems to be a trend amongst critics that mirrors (ha ha) the release of Neon Bible; in short, it's divisive. 

I personally think that Arcade Fire is one of, if not the best rock band that modern music has to offer, but I wouldn't say that they don't have their flaws. For one, the lyrics on a lot of Arcade Fire songs can find themselves in some pretty corny and melodramatic territory, but at the same time, it's that melodrama and sincerity behind them that makes their songs so darn uplifting. Another thing about Arcade Fire (and many other modern rock bands) is that they suffer from "First album blues", or at least the fans do. Because, no matter how great any of their latter work is (and I think they've put out some superb albums since) the fans will live and die by the bands first album, Funeral. Granted, that album is incredible and deserves every good thing ever said about it, it unfortunately has created a mindset in fans that they'll never be able to top it, and that is what I believe leads a lot of people to misjudge albums like Neon Bible and Reflektor.

Anyway, enough speculation and context, how is the new Arcade Fire album? Well, me; it's pretty darn good. If I had to point to tracks that stood out the most, the title track, "Afterlife", "Normal Person", and "It's Never Over (Hey Orpheus) would be my go-to's. But honestly, I don't think pulling tracks out of this LP does it justice, because Arcade Fire have gone through the trouble of pacing this LP in such a way that you really can't go without any of these tracks. While this may not be the most conceptually fleshed out AF album, it is perhaps their poppy-est and most groove oriented. Which leads to lot of moments that bring to mind some sort of apocalyptic dancefloor, or perhaps a caribbean themed dance party where the music is played by emotionally aware robots. 

Yeah, this album is kind of hard to sum up in anything less than an essay's worth of text, but I'll be blunt. Reflektor may not be my favorite Arcade Fire album, in fact, I found a couple of the songs here to be sort of middle of the road ("Joan of Arc" "Supersymmetry"), but I can't deny the fact that for a good portion of this LP, I was filled with the same sense of wonder and uplift that Arcade Fire first brought to the world with that legend of an album, Funeral.

8.5/10