Tag: Arcade Fire

It’s not easy for fans to separate the art from the artist. When allegations come out about a musician, the knives come out – and for good reason.  In 2022, Pitchfork.com ran several stories of sexual assault allegations against Arcade Fire singer Win Butler.  He denied any wrongdoing but at the time, the singer Feist decided against touring with the band and Beck also dropped out of another leg of that tour.  After that, the stories seem to fade into another news cycle and the band dropped from sight for a few years.

They returned in 2025, with Butler and bandmate Regine Chassagne’s marriage still intact, along with the rest of the band – Will Butler having already left in 2021. The new album, Pink Elephant is a moody, down beat, atmospheric album that contains three instrumentals including the opener, “Open your Heart Or Die Trying” before Butler pleads on the title track to “take your mind off me”.

“Circle of Trust” adds a bit of a dance beat on a track that the married couple duets on.  The same trick is applied to “I Love Her Shadow” where Butler sings, that we’re “Breaking into heaven tonight”. In the Chinese zodiac calendar, the year of the snake is associated with wisdom, transformation and introspection.  At least for two of those ideals – the track of the same name sings that it’s “the season of change/and if you feel strange/it’s probably a good thing”.

Best yet is The Ronette’s like drum beat attached to “Ride or Die”. Recalling Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” in tone, Butler sings of running away with his love where he “could work in an office/you could be a waitress”. The repeat of those lines with slight changes turns into a mantra. The album closes with “Stuck In My Head” that works as a stream of conscious. At various points Butler sings “Stuck in my head, stuck in my head… mess in my head, mess in my heart… I’ll clean up this bedroom, clean up this head”.  It takes on a self help book way of dealing the problem, one made bed at a time.

Reading other reviews for this album, it’s safe to say people are angry.  Pink Elephant has been panned across the board, scoring mostly 50% scores.  Remarkably, the album did not enter the US top 200 albums chart after the band had scored #1 albums with previous releases.  It’s a spectacular fall from grace as many people were looking for apologies and a few come to Jesus moments. Instead they got mumbled declarations of being “a good boy”.  Still – separating the music from the band, mostly just the one man – it’s an intriguing album that is more like minimal bedroom alt rock than uplifting stadium filler. But still – I can’t stop listening to it as I quietly whisper, “I really like it”.

8/10

“It’s the age of doubt/and I doubt we’ll figure it out”.  So begins Arcade Fire’s sixth album WE.  First track “Age of Anxiety I” from which those lyrics are pulled starts with a piano and a light pulse in the background before the pulse gets turned up and a beat comes in. At nine minutes, “End of the Empire I-IV” has a wistful yet futuristic feel, turning a neat Bowie trick as Win Butler sings of the end of the American Empire. Even though it’s slower in tempo, “The Lightning I,II” feels anthemic as Butler sings “We can make it if you don’t quit on me”.

Sung for Butler and Regine Chassagne’s son, “Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)” is a modern folk track that is an album highlight before the title track settles the record down with an acoustic guitar.  Produced by Nigel Godrich with Butler and Regine, it is the last album to feature multi-instrumentalist Will Butler. As on many AF releases, Regine’s vocals popping in on tracks is often a highlight and the drumming of Jeremy Gara is rock solid. With its use of synths and slower moods, WE can drift in and out of consciousness that often works well as background music, that can be left on repeat for hours.

7.5/10