The countdown (which started here) continues with the first indie-rock entry and an unintentional “Lil” theme on the singles list:
48.
Album: Neon Bible — Arcade Fire (Merge, 2007):
From my 2007 year-end piece:
I never fully connected with the drama on Arcade Fire’s beloved-in-some-quarters 2004 debut, Funeral, but on Neon Bible this Canadian band of ex-pat Americans take their previously private agonies and anxieties public by naming what they fear: “holy war,” inherited debt, salesmen at the door, a rising tide that could drown us all. Musically, this sweeping, mournful lament is more stirring than engaging, in a manner that I’ve rejected in other bands. But this music is more intimate, more ragged, more organic. I think the range of voices — male and female — helps considerably. I’ve also decided that, rather than an indie-rock U2, they’re more a middle-class Mekons. Clincher: “The Well and the Lighthouse,” a subtle parable about cultural (read: indie-rock) isolation in which the band chooses the lighthouse and the responsibility that comes with it.
Song sample: “Windowsill”
