05

Arcade Fire

Reflektor

The first single/title track/album opener is quite simply the best individual song of 2013, and I’d already played it a million times before the record was released.  As such, initially I was quite disappointed with the album as a whole, because none of the rest of it comes close to ‘Reflektor’ itself in terms of brilliance.  However, repeated listens have revealed that the rest of it certainly is brilliant; just not quite as brilliant.  The glam of ‘Joan of Arc’ is a pleasure, and the riff at the heart of the scathing ‘Normal People’ reminds me of The Pixies at their best.  There’s an increased electronic presence here, which fits in well and has changed the dynamic somewhat. For me, Reflektor is a notable improvement on The Suburbs (which I know The Grammys adored but I had a lukewarm reaction to), but is not quite up to the standard set by albums 1 and 2.  I wonder if, a little like with Opposites, there needed to be a little more quality control here – a slightly shorter and more honed record may have been closer to topping my list.  Nonetheless, this is a band that’s consistently right near the top of the tree, straddling both commercial success and artistic quality/integrity with ease.  A band to be cherished.

Sample track: ‘Reflektor’