Arcade Fire: Neon Bible

Label: Merge

Lots of records were hyped to death this year, and lots didn’t pass muster. One big exception was Arcade Fire. The test of any band’s mettle is whether they can follow up the success of a debut (2004’s Funeral) with an even better album. Arcade Fire aces that test with the riveting, majestic Neon Bible. The headlong momentum of “The Well and the Lighthouse” will sound familiar, as will the ear-grabbingly straining, sincere singing of Win Butler, but there is much here that finds this already ambitious band becoming even more daring. Using pipe organ on “Intervention” and “My Body Is a Cage” epitomizes this band’s willingness to say the hell with indie-rock rules and grab for all the sonic splendor they can. The strings, horns, piano, and choir on “Windowsill” are adeptly applied to a track that could just as easily have been just acoustic guitar, but they help it build a mighty crescendo of rejection. “No Cars Go” has some shoegazey guitar floating amid more horns, plus accordion, capped by the shouted dual vocals. And it’s not just that they’ve (probably) got a bigger production budget this time out; the songwriting’s better, more assured. Yes, better than Funeral, much better. (Steve)