Arcade Fire
The Arcade Fire – meet the cast: Win and Will Butler, Régine Chassagne, Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, Sarah Neufeld, Jeremy Gara. They’re from Montreal, Canada. They, along with their glimmering deluge of scintillating, Lips-cum-Broken Social Scene anti-anthemery, just might save your life.
Their debut LP – one of the most-talked-about of the year – ‘Funeral’ is a tribute to those that passed during the recording-sessions of the record; Régine’s grandmother Nancy, Win and Will\'s grandfather Alvino Rey, Richard Parry’s Aunt Betsy. It was a heavy year. It’s a heavy record.
The basis of their arch, lush and enchanting songcraft formed from the pool of inspiration garnered between the (eventually married) union of Win and Régine, songs of sparse instrumentation and aching atmospherics. It’s the word-of-mouth hit of 2004 and 2005 – the outfit’s third ever London show, due in the spring, will be to a 2,000-capacity venue. Expect a further swelling in relevance and instant notoriety. Get swept up in it yourself.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: A number of different viewing-spec’s for your eyes – lo-fi, hi-fi, Flash, et al. And, mysteriously, a link to McDonald’s on the home-page.
ROUGH TRADE RECORDS: They’ve done it again. Snapped up a life-affirming act of timely (p)relevance. The band’s UK record-label.
MERGE RECORDS: … And the band’s US label; home to Ganger, Low Barlow, The Buzzcocks, amongst many others.
WEEKLY EDITORIAL 2005: a brief name-check of the band in the run-down of the line-up to this year’s superlative Coachella festival in LA.
ROUGH TRADE CONTEST: win tickets to the band’s long sold-out, debut UK gig on March 8th at the Kings College in London; it’ll prove a night you shan’t forget.