Arcade Fire – Self Titled EP

Remember a world without Arcade Fire?

Back in 2002 when this EP came out Franz Ferdinand had yet to come out, Modest Mouse had yet to sell out, and people were still willing to shell out money for boy bands and numetal. The thought that a Canadian music collective was going to lead the Indies into prominence for the internet generation would have sounded ridiculous, the fact that several made it to underground god-hood is basically a result of the Arcade Fire.

For us now, looking back, it is hard to see this album without reference to their subsequent work, especially since several of the songs were revived on later albums. Most people did not hear of this EP until after the band’s career took off, but such is the nature of EPs: they serve to introduce a band to a core following that they can build on. This core following then gets to tell subsequent fans “yeah, Funeral was good, but I still like the initial EP best.” I would look down my nose at these people but it took me a very long time to get into Neon Bible, given how different it was from Funeral. This occasionally happens with bands whose subsequent work is legitimately garbage but we will be talking about State Radio another time. Just trust me and buy Flag of the Shiners, and not a god damn other thing by Chad Urmston

In the context of their wider body of work, this EP is actually pretty similar to their work in The Suburbs and Neon Bible, which incidentally contains a remake of the song “No Cars Go.” Like many I bought this in the post-Funeral era, but I found it somewhat jarring. Funeral emerged in a period of indie dance music and was apparently lucky in that it happened to capture this moment perfectly. Emerging the same year as Franz Ferdinand, The Postal Service, and The Killers, Funeral is certainly more folksy and introspective than its fellows, but in retrospect still contains the energetic dance numbers and generous techno sensibilities that defined the 2004 class of indie. If there has been one trend in indie since 2004 it has been the mainstream’s appropriation of these techno sensibilities, even as indie rock shied away from pop hooks and dancability. This has certainly been the case with Arcade Fire and in this context Funeral stands next to other Arcade Fire albums as an oddly popular child in a family of anti-social eccentrics.

This is not to say I find Arcade Fire’s other work bad, but it is way less relatable on first listen. Listening to songs from Funeral in the context of Neon Bible, The Suburbs, and the EP, it’s like a different band. I honestly have no way to deal with this. They self produce all their work, so there was no Evil Label interference going on. Funeral had to have been an organic eruption. In some of the songs on the EP you can even feel it coming on. No Cars Go and Headlights Look Like Diamonds are full the pop sensibilities that make The Suburbs such a great album, and the latter even has the dace beat that completely infected Funeral. When listening to Headlights Look Like Diamonds you can see how this band produced Funeral. But then Vampire/Forrest Fire starts and you feel lost and confused.

The recording quality here is good. While you can tell it was a first effort and recorded quickly, especially in the context of songs like No Cars Go which were later re-recorded, this album could be taken to mark the era where cheap home recording equipment made it entirely possible for bands to record lush, professional sounding albums in their basement, and still have money for booze. Or in this band’s case yoga pants I guess. Anyway the album sounds great. It only comes off as a bit spare in comparison to the other albums.

The song quality is honestly top notch. Even as they are clearly building up themes to be dealt with more fully on other albums, these songs are fully realized works, well instrumentalized and beautiful. Even the album art is wonderful, featuring the naïve colorized pattern collages that they returned to on Funeral.

This is a great EP. If you are a fan of Arcade Fire you should get it. It has none of the coherence of the albums and for the most part lacks the fun of Funeral or even The Suburbs…but it has the DNA of both embedded within its form. Listening to the EP you can hear the artistic sensibilities that unify all three albums, but oddly recombine; pieces of The Suburbs will coexist with pieces of Funeral in a stereotypical folk song structure, and then the next song with have the exploded, meandering song structures of Neon Bible in a song full of pop hooks. Not their best album, but a fascinating portrait of a band getting their musical legs and finding their muse. A work fans could probably argue about for hours.

For those who are not yet fans of Arcade Fire, or want some sort of unbiased review of its actual attributes, perish the thought, this EP is a bit tougher. Like all of Arcade Fire’s works the EP rewards repeated listens, but like Neon Bible, and unlike Funeral and The Suburbs, the EP gives the listener few early pop hooks. For those not used to the rigors of indie rock (lolz) this kind of rigor may be a chore, and if you don’t already have a commitment to the band I would forgive you for not finding it within yourself to do so. If, on the other hand, you are a fan of esoteric folk music you might find my critiques invalid. There is no deadwood here, though I feel the slowest songs are stacked to the front. Someone wanting to get into a really weird band and willing to expend a bit of energy to do so could well start here and easily segue into any of their other albums. For those who don’t view music as a kissing cousin of homework, I would really recommend you go get a copy of The Suburbs. It has a slew of great, poppy, fun songs while being less of a redheaded stepchild than Funeral. Goddamnit  I am talking about the other albums again. Ahh feck. Just go buy it. It’s fun.