Arcade Fire
Everything Now
Reviewed by: Lauren Rosier
It’s been four years since Arcade Fire rolled out 2013’s commercially and critically acclaimed Reflektor. The publicity surrounding the release was huge, from secret shows, graffiti campaigns, and the Saturday Night Live post-show party. The music on Reflektor had life, personality, and style.
Now the Canadian indie rock visionaries are back with their fifth studio record, Everything Now. Though, not as hyped as Reflektor (the hype surrounding Reflektor had a lot to do with the trends with record releases during that time period).
The four years between 2013’s Reflektor and 2017’s Everything Now weren’t completely inactive for the quintet – in addition to the Saturday Night Live special, the band released a documentary titled The Reflektor Tapes in 2015; then, in 2017, they released a new track, “I Give You Power” to coincide with the U.S. presidential inauguration.
The new record spans 13 tracks, which are really just 10 with 3 reprises, of new material that is different, yet similar to the band’s previous work. It doesn’t take on the ‘larger than life’ persona as Reflektor does and does seem like it leaves the listener with a small feeling of disappointment.
Besides the record’s singles, there are only six other new tracks on the record, many of which are thin and don’t have that signature Arcade Fire sound. Despite that, Win Butler and company, still sound huge; just not as ‘larger than life’ as Reflektor did. The album is co-produced by Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk, bassist Steve Mackey, Geoff Barrow of Portishead, and Markus Dravs (who also produced the band’s last three albums). The signature Arcade Fire sound, the funky, unique, indie rock, is still there; just not as overwhelmingly huge.
The band’s lead single, “Everything Now”, is perhaps, the best track on the record and provided reassurance in the band’s level of commercial success. Tracks like “Creature Comfort” and “Electric Blue” display the band’s courageousness in discussing a subject as controversial as suicide on the former, while on the latter, Regine Chassagne, is given the reigns to shine similarly to “Haiti.”
On the single, “Signs of Life”, the quintet returns to the funky beats of Reflektor. Perhaps what’s the most disappointing is how out of sync the band sounds on tracks like “Chemistry” where Win Butler sings “you and me/we got chemistry.” On this track, they sound very uninspired and the lyrics come off as being unbelievable. On “Infinite Content”, they deliver a song that wavers between a fast-paced pop punk track and trying to come off as as pop punk track and something that misses the mark. “Good God Damn” is a slow-sputtering, bass-heavy track that leaves something to be desired and unfortunately never reaches its peak.
The best tracks on Everything Now are the singles, whereas the six remaining tracks are lacking in depth compared to the band’s previous LP’s. With that said, there’s still some terrific Arcade Fire tracks on the LP that is worth taking a listen to, but you may find yourself wanting more.
Rating: Listenable
