Arcade Fire
The Suburbs

The Canadian band Arcade Fire may have been the biggest indie revelation of the last decade.

Praised by the press at the time of their debut ("Funeral" in 2004) and backed by acknowledgments from many of their peers (among whom we can name Chris Martin, David Bowie, U2, and David Byrne), their fame, and consequently the following of fans scattered all over the globe, has grown exponentially, reaching levels of true veneration.

The hype around their third album was consequently enormous for what should be the breakthrough record for any band.

So?

Have the expectations of industry insiders and fans been met?

From a commercial standpoint, definitely yes, and their number one spot on both the UK and US charts, with over 200,000 copies sold in just one week, proves it. However, something has changed in the band's approach to their music, and I'm not sure this is a good thing.

The lo-fi visceral nature of their beginnings and the small masterpieces that "Neon Bible" (their second album in 2007) overflowed with, have given way to a more traditional pop-rock to which Arcade Fire adheres without, fortunately, abandoning their peculiarities.

Yet something is missing because alongside always at least brilliant ideas and now impeccable technique the urgency is no longer felt, the pressing need to express themselves at all costs by disrupting the regular song structure with sudden instrumental interventions or radical changes in tone.

In this sense, a "Month of May" results in an embarrassing abuse of '70s rock clichés, yet the track remains enjoyable and helps break an otherwise too monotonous atmosphere.

Indeed, because another problem with this album is precisely the monotony, the much-dreaded boredom that in an excessively long work like this one (almost 66 minutes) occasionally becomes inevitable.

Don't get me wrong, "The Suburbs" is not a bad record; in fact, it is definitely a work above the current music releases, however, it suffers from excessive running time and the desire by the group to both please the old fans and acquire new ones by adopting a less naive approach.

It certainly deserves all of our attention, but do not expect the usual, devastating emotional impact, and above all, do not believe those who talk about a new "Ok Computer," that's just business and has little to do with music.