I’ve always loved Arcade Fire, with their records pretty consistently coming near the
top of my yearly lists (maybe with the exception of The Suburbs, which I was disappointed with – but even that made 14th
place on my list in 2010). For me,
though, Everything Now may be a new
high. Definitely it’s my favourite Arcade Fire record since the first two
and, perhaps, my favourite of them all: this is staggeringly good stuff. On its face, this record’s more
disco-influenced, sequined style would seem to be less to my rock-orientated
taste than most of their previous work. It probably is only the (fantastic) ‘Creature Comfort’ that emulates the
musical scale of their back catalogue,
and guitars are merely one string to Everything
Now’s bow. They truly have got their
dancing shoes on this time, and Everything
Now is all the better for it. There’s so much to enjoy musically, yet at
the same time this record is less dense. As a result, it’s better able to worm its way into your head. Pretty much every track stays with me. The
electro-bass grower of ‘Put Your Money On Me’, the soaring keyboards of the
title track, the muscular ska of ‘Chemistry’, the pounding ‘Infinite Content’
and its country twin ‘Infinite_Content’ – I love every song. The lyrics are so great, examining modern
society with craft and care. Yes, Everything Now is a nihilistic, at times
depressing record thematically (see, especially, ‘We Don’t Deserve Love’, or
the deep sadness of ‘Creature Comfort’ and its dissection of self-loathing, celebrity
worship and misplaced desire). But it wins through because it is so fearless and
makes its points with such style; lyrically (if not perhaps musically) Everything Now reminds me of Radiohead’s 90s classic OK Computer. I don’t think I can better
the summation of this record that appeared in The Independent’s review, so I’m
going to steal it: listening to Everything
Now ‘feels like staggering through a disco with a dagger in your side.’ It’s the first masterpiece
on this year’s list.
sample track: Creature Comfort