Arcade Fire - Black Mirror (Rough Trade)
5/5
By: Alex Lee Thomson
Well, well folks it's nearly upon us - 'Neon Bible' by Arcade Fire, the long awaited descendant of 'Funeral'. Dare we once again look into the eye of terror that so unsympathetically presides over our communal fate as music lovers? Dare we hear what they've written to challenge 'Funeral' and banish all other rock 'n' roll songs to exile? Better yet, dare we even think about sitting down and trying to wrack our brains around their f**king brutal lyrics and crushing arrangements? Regrettably folks, the answer's yes.
When they penned 'Power Out' we thought it was a one off. When they expelled 'Rebellion (Lies)' we hoped it was a misnomer, and when they unleashed 'Wake Up' we pleaded that the dismay doth end lest we be consumed by a tuneful mental breakdown, but yet Arcade Fire persist and with 'Black Mirror' they've finally taken it too damn far. The track's swaying, sexual, cruel, chilling, sinister, Cure-esque and disastrously endearing enough to keep you perpetually coming back for more. If the entire new album is along these lines, expect to fritter the next year away curled up in bed with a duvet draped around your head blaring and weeping into your pillow the words "please, dear God, no". As the effects of 'Funeral' die away and their last UK tour date becomes a mere outlying memory, some realm of stabilised normality had at last come to pass over our music scene, but with this compulsive track, we're back to square one.
'Black Mirror' yowls through ambient sounds and tortured vocals that combine into a heighten sense of something evil, something strange, something Arcade Fire, and ultimately into something blissful yet tragic to hear. The gorgeous minimalism aside, it's a well prepared, produced and performed song that's as racing as it is arresting. It may fail to pump blood at the light-speed that 'Power Out' did, but it's no less elegiac and sturdy, and as its verve distils its hidden catch kicks away behind your back drawing you in while you try and figure it out.
For anybody that heeds it and can't decide whether it's good or not, we'll tell you, it's good. Very, viciously, and inscrutably good.
Photo by Tom Hannan
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