Reflektor

By Benjamin Huber-Rodriguez     11/18/13 6:00pm

Arcade Fire recently appeared on The Colbert Report to support its new album, where Colbert asked "What do you like more: getting people to listen to your message about isolation in the modern world, or getting them on the dance floor to shake that ass?" Despite its comedic intentions, Colbert's question concisely sums up Reflektor, the fourth LP from the Grammy Award-winning, Montreal-based 10-piece. While previous incarnations of Arcade Fire have been noted for their seriousness and sobriety, often performing in Amish-style clothing and retaining solemn poker faces during interviews, this time around, the group seems to feature a relaxed, humorous approach to public appearances, a PR change also "reflekted" in Arcade Fire's new style of music.

Arcade Fire's first album, 2004's Funeral, was hailed by critics as a modern masterpiece, noted for its grandiose, orchestral arrangements and deeply personal lyrics depicting the trials and tribulations of dealing with death and sadness as a young person. 2010's The Suburbs was a concept album loosely based on The Woodlands (chief songwriter Win Butler's childhood home) and earned the group a surprise Grammy for album of the year. Now, nearly four years later, Arcade Fire has again shifted its focus, but for the first time, it has significantly altered its style as well. Soaring guitars, dizzying strings and crashing cymbals have given way to pulsating synthesizers and dancefloor drum beats inspired by the creole music of singer Regine Chassagne's native country, Haiti. The influence of producer James Murphy, of former dance-punk giant LCD Soundsystem fame, can be heard in the multiple six-minute-plus, trance-inducing dance tracks like "Reflektor" and "We Exist."

Arcade Fire has said the album name and title track were intended to inspire people to reflect on their own lives and place in an ever-changing society as well as to acknowledge the difference between their own true selves and the reflections they present on the surface. Themes of social anxiety and detachment abound, and never more aggressively than in standout rock track "Normal Person," on which Butler rattles off "You know, I can't tell if I'm a normal person / It's true, I think I'm cool enough, but am I cruel enough?" The pair of pained, spacey electronic acts "Awful Sound (Oh Eurydice)" and "It's Never Over (Hey Orpheus)" introduce both tragedy and consolation to a youth stricken with heartache. First, Butler paints the scene: "But when I say I love you / Your silence covers me / Oh, Eurydice, It's an awful sound" then he offers the resolution: "It seems so important now / But you will get over / When you get older." While Arcade Fire once sought refuge from the heavy questions it was unable to answer, it now offers reflections on youth from the point of view of adults 10 years into their career.

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Former fans of Arcade Fire may initially have trouble receiving Reflektor. While on Funeral, Arcade Fire made an anthemic plea for the public to "Wake Up," the group now asks (on "Afterlife")  "I've gotta know / Can we work it out? / Scream and shout till we work it out?" While its scope has widened relative to the individual, its earnestness and sense of importance has failed to wane. Though some tracks drag, and others lack inspiration, the record works as an album that not only critiques society, but also offers solace for the individuals who feel buried by it. And in that way, Arcade Fire still connects with its listeners, even if it resembles only a reflection of its former self.

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