Arcade Fire "The Suburbs:Deluxe"

Let’s take a horse-drawn carriage ride through “The Suburbs.” This boppin piano seems to have the carriage slightly off balance, and there are light horn flourishes in back, other than that it is quiet. Before the damage is done, Win would like daughter one, to be able to hold her hand and show her the beauty of what could be still, if most care for more than number one. “Ready to Start?” I am, and this driving beat with that little key splash amidst the piano has the mind open wide and… “Modern Man” waiting in line for a number that seems out of place, makes no sense, and interrupts the slumber because of some silly number that has no meaning ‘til it’s too late to find out. “Rococo” has this strumming in the back that waits for keys and drums to coax the strings to finally speak up. This song just sounds so picturesque. What? Visions of valleys or scenic routes. Fast violin, quick paced beat, low bass, and feelings of loneliness, but the discovery of one’s true self:  “But when I’m by myself/ I can be myself.” The hopelessness that “City With No Children” has in it is balanced by the driving notes of “Half Light I” and it’s promise: “Strange how the half light/ can make some place new/ you can’t recognize me/ and I can’t recognize you.” There is a driving beat to the next song along with synth, but the lyrics are not as positive as a “Suburban War” is coming upon us. It opens with a nice guitar riff, and the lyrics, do they make a reference to West Side Story? “And my old friends, we were so different then/Before your war against the suburbs began/Before it began/ And now the music divides/Us into tribes.” Around 3:25 is where the beat changes as well as the backing riff, and it sounds as if it slowly building but does not really bother. “Month of May” is about the making of this record as he says he mentions “2009,2010/ wanted to make a record how I felt back then/ When we stood outside in the month of may/And watched the violent wind blow the tires away.” It has this old school punk attitude delivered by way of guitar and drums; or maybe not. “Wasted Hours (A Life that We Can Live)” is a song contemplating what could have happened if those hours wasted just sitting on the couch were put to more productive use, and how time or lack of it controls us; in more ways than one. The driving piano and synth only get better in “Deep Blue,” especially towards the end, and don’t forget the nice guitar riff too. “We Used To Wait” to do things until the last minute, and it worked out for a while, but then it just started to fail. The lyrics are nice in this song, and it just states how things have changed epecially  once you’ve grown a certain age there are things one would like to do, but cannot anymore, or they do not have time to do. “Sprawl I (Flatland)” is another contemplation number with depressing lyrics of things that once were, now gone or unrecognizable. With nothing but the voice of Butler, and some muted background instrumentals the focus is on the lyrics and message. “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” seems much more positive and downright dancy with the synth, dancing piano, lovely female vocals, two step drums, handclaps, organs in the middle end, which then changes the songs landscape a little bit. “The Suburbs (continued)” is a short 1:31 song that has Butler singing “If I could have it back/All the time that we wasted/I’d only waste it again/If I could only have it back/You know I’d love to waste it again/ waste it again and again and again.” The next song is also one that speaks of the generation gap and how times have changed, and silly things have caused a rupture in unity and even progress in “Culture War” These are different times that we're living in/These are different times/Now the kids are growing up so fast/They're paying for our crimes/You left while I was sleeping/You said it's damning/Oh, I've read a little Bible/You see what you want to see/Oh, we know the culture war/We don't know what it's for/But we've lived your southern strategy/We know it's never going to last…” If am not understood it must be because I am “Speaking In Tongues;” the title of the last track which features David Byrne and... i'm Ready To Start, Modern Man, Empty Room, Suburban War, Month of May, Deep Blue, We Used to Wait,  and Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains).