Last week, Rebecca asked me if I’d heard the new Arcade Fire album, The Suburbs. My reply ended up being more or less a full review, so here are my thoughts on the album:

It’s pretty great, but at this point, I wouldn’t rank it as high as their previous two albums. While they maintain their trademark epic soundscape, the music itself doesn’t sound quite as epic to me. “Neon Bible” has several multi-part songs and lots of cool things with harmonies, counter-melodies, time signature changes, creative instrumentation (boys choir, mens choir, pipe organ(!), bells, etc.), and dark lyrics reflecting on such weighty topics as postmodernism and theology.

On the other hand, the topic at hand in the album–the suburbs–doesn’t really lend itself to those kinds things. Do you really need a pipe organ and a boys choir to bemoan the fact that the house you grew up in looked like all the other ones on your block? Besides, their instrumentation does evoke a bit of a 90s vibe, which makes sense given that Win and Regine are in their early 30s.

And the album certainly has its moments. Who would have thought endlessly repeating the word “rococo” would be so interesting? There’s also the always-eloquent biting cultural commentary: “They heard me singing and they told me to stop. Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock” (Sprawl II [Mountains Beyond Mountains]) and “In line for a number, but you don’t understand. Like a modern man” (Modern Man). And I particularly enjoyed “We Used to Wait,” their lament over the transience of modern communication and our obsession with instant gratification.

So should you buy it? Yes. But also get “Neon Bible” and “Funeral.” :-)