Arcade Fire Neon Bible

I bought indie rock band Arcade Fire's album Neon Bible pretty recently. On Saturday actually. Normally, you would head in to a shop like HMV with some kind of idea of what you're out to buy. You'd pick the CD you know will appeal to you. You know you'll like it because you listen to the artist who's put it out.

 

Well, because this is me we're talking about, I walked in to HMV and picked up the first CD I thought looked good. I've done the same thing before at Groucho's and (unfortunately) come home with two bands I can't stand. Luckily for me, this time was different. Ok...so it might have been the fact that I've listened to Arcade Fire before. In my defence, it was only one song and I don't even know what album it belongs to.

 

Let's just say I took a (slightly informed) gamble which paid off very nicely indeed *insert sigh of relief*.

 

Neon Bible has quite a dark sound to it with all eleven tracks featuring a heavy bass line (which I don't think my speakers were too happy with). Similar to Alt-J, Arcade Fire incorporate a heavy emphasis on the drum-kit, though their style produces a sound that is slightly less sharp and their music slightly less cheerful. I would go as far to say that Neon Bible has a pretty relaxed sound, though the layered textures of the music keep it from sounding entirely sleepy. And like most indie bands, their lyrics are quite poetic - a God send if you're tired of all the pop chart simplicity. I'm aware I'm sounding more and more like a music snob every second, but if you listen to a bit of indie...or most things other than pop, you'll know what I mean. 

 

I'd have to say that my favourite tracks from Neon Bible are number 7 The well and the lighthouse and 10 No cars Go. So look out for those two if you're just looking to buy a couple of songs from iTunes instead of the whole album. I'm also going to recommend track 11 My body is a cage because of how dramatic it sounds due to the band's use of an organ...which I suppose would link in to the whole bible/church theme you get from the album name.

 

You can get Neon Bible from HMV for £5.99 which is cheaper than on Amazon where it's £6.29 and on iTunes where it's £8.99. Word to the wise - go to HMV.