Album Review: Arcade Fire, WE

Arcade Fire’s sixth album, WE, co-produced by Nigel Godrich, takes its name from a Russian dystopian novel by Yevgeny Zamyatin. Writing for the record began before the pandemic, but many of these songs feel rooted in the events of the last two years. ‘Age Of Anxiety I’ begins the album with what sounds like a palpitating heart, joined by tinkling synths and breathy vocals, slowing building into a pulsating affair with martial drums. Win Butler pleads “Got to get the spirit outta me” on a song that’s a spiritual sibling to their classic ‘Rebellion (Lies)’.

‘End Of The Empire I-IV’ is a nine-minute, mini rock-opera about “standing at the end of the American empire”, that tips its cap to ‘70s singer-songwriters. The band then spin forward a decade for the ‘80s-tastic ‘Unconditional II (Race And Religion)’, featuring vocals from Peter Gabriel. ‘Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)’ is an old school ode to rock ‘n’ roll, while the soaring ‘The Lightning I II’ veers from yearning love song to thumping hoedown, like the E Street Band on speed, covering Neil Young’s ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’.

Never predictable and always entertaining, this is Arcade Fire at their best.

9/10

Listen to WE here.