Arcade Fire Funeral CD

Arcade Fire: William Butler (synthesizer, xylophone, bass instrument, percussion); Richard Reed Parry (double bass); Win Butler (bass guitar); Régine Chassagne, Howard Bilerman.
Personnel: Win Butler (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric 12-string guitar, piano, synthesizer); Régine Chassagne (vocals, accordion, recorder, piano, synthesizer, xylophone, drums, percussion); Howard Bilerman (guitar, drums); Timothy Kingsbury (acoustic guitar); Anita Fust (harp); Jessica Moss, Sophie Trudeau, Owen Pallett, Sarah Neufeld (violin); Genevieve Heistek (viola); Michael Olsen, Mike Olsen (cello); Richard Reed Parry (accordion, piano, organ, synthesizer, xylophone, upright bass, percussion); Pietro Amato (horns); Will Butler (synthesizer, xylophone, percussion); Arlen Thompson (drums).
Recording information: Hotel 2 Tango (08/2003-??/2004); Win & Regine's Apartment, Montreal, Canada (08/2003-??/2004).
Photographer: Hilary Treadwell.
Fronted by the husband-and-wife team of Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, the Arcade Fire's emotional debut -- rendered even more poignant by the dedications to recently departed family members contained in its liner notes -- is brave, empowering, and dusted with something that many of the indie-rock genre's more contrived acts desperately lack: an element of real danger. Funeral' s mourners -- specifically Butler and Chassagne -- inhabit the same post-apocalyptic world as London Suede's Dog Man Star; they are broken, beaten, and ferociously romantic, reveling in the brutal beauty of their surroundings like a heathen Adam & Eve. "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)," the first of four metaphorical forays into the geography of the soul, follows a pair of young lovers who meet in the middle of the town through tunnels that connect to their bedrooms. Over a soaring piano lead that's effectively doubled by distorted guitar, they reach a Lord of the Flies-tinged utopia where they can't even remember their names or the faces of their weeping parents. Butler sings like Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood used to play, like a lion-tamer whose whip grows shorter with each and every lash. He can barely contain himself, and when he lets loose it's both melodic and primal, like Berlin-era Bowie or British Sea Power. "Neighborhood #2 (Laïka)" examines suicidal desperation through an angular Gang of Four prism; the hypnotic wash of strings and subtle meter changes of "Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)" winsomely capture the mundane doings of day-to-day existence; and "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)," Funeral's victorious soul-thumping core, is a goose bump-inducing rallying cry centered around the notion that "the power's out in the heart of man, take it from your heart and put it in your hand." The Arcade Fire are not bereft of whimsy. "Crown of Love" is like a wedding cake dropped in slow motion, utilizing a Johnny Mandel-style string section and a sweet, soda-pop stand chorus to provide solace to a jilted lover yearning for a way back into the fold, and "Haiti" relies on a sunny island melody to explore the complexities of Chassagne's mercurial homeland. However, it's the sheer power and scope of cuts like "Wake Up" -- featuring all 15 musicians singing in unison -- and the mesmerizing, early-Roxy Music pulse of "Rebellion (Lies)" that make Funeral the remarkable achievement that it is. These are songs that pump blood back into the heart as fast and furiously as it's draining from the sleeve on which it beats, and by the time Chassagne dissects her love of riding "In the Backseat" with the radio on, despite her desperate fear of driving, Funeral's singular thread is finally revealed; love does conquer all, especially love for the cathartic power of music. ~ James Christopher Monger
This Montreal ensemble's fiery debut is marked by surging guitars, soulful strings, driving drums, brilliant bass lines, and the quavering vocals of married couple Win Butler and Regine Chassagne. The group's song structures careen through a vast territory oRolling Stone (p.173) - 4 stars out of 5 - "FUNERAL aches with elegiac intensity....FUNERAL captures the agony and even ecstasy of surviving death all around you."
Rolling Stone (p.141) - Included in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Records Of 2004 - "[W]ith lavishly orchestrated, emotionally stunning tales..."
Entertainment Weekly (p.81) - "FUNERAL is a lovely, uplifting, and often pleasingly grandiose whirl through a panoply of sounds..." - Grade: B+
Uncut (p.104) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Their songs strike out at unexpected angles, bringing to mind a morbidly romantic 19th-century Radiohead."
Magnet (p.100) - "[A] compelling debut....FUNERAL deals with grief by obsessing over new relations and future births, decorating each lost leaf in brilliant fall colors."
CMJ (p.38) - "Putting the 'fun' back in FUNERAL, the debut disc from Montreal indie-pop sextet Arcade Fire exhumes instrumentation extinct since third-grade music class and sets them ablaze in anything but a macabre fashion."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.58) - Ranked #2 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2005" - "[T]he Montreal orch-rock sextet's debut was fervent and uplifting."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.59) - Ranked #60 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "Joyful, original and sweet."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.96) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Echoes of Wire at their mid-'80s jackhammer funk zenith abound on 'Rebellion', while yearning cellos frame a breathtaking turn from Chassagne on 'In the Backseat'."
Clash (magazine) (p.78) - "Few albums of similar emotional intensity have had the same staying power as FUNERAL..."