Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Arcade Fire: The Suburbs. Merge, 2010

Arcade Fire’s third album has cemented their place as a favourite in my music collection. The album is full of the darkly prophetic memoirs that Arcade Fire is famous for, and the band has developed their sound consistently without becoming boring. Win Butler, lead singer and lyricist, says that the album “is neither a love letter to, nor an indictment of, the suburbs - it's a letter from the suburbs.” Arcade Fire has given us the gift of a voice from inside suburban culture; a voice that probes life’s deepest questions while experiencing life in probably the most isolating landscape humans have been able to manufacture. And though criticism of sprawl is easy, the landscape is here to stay, for at least the next century. If we hope to change our cities, “The Suburbs” is essential listening.