Thursday, 28 April 2016

Arcade Fire

Arcade Fire were formed in Montreal, Canada in 2001 by brothers Win & Will Butler, Win's wife Regine Chassagne and other good musicians. Their debut album, Funeral (in 2004), was critically acclaimed and commercially successful. The three albums that followed also hit critical and commercial pay dirt, making them one of the most prominent bands of our time.



Their 3d album, The Suburbs (2010), contained the song Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains). It deals with the feeling that is common among many of us, the desire to leave a restrictive hometown for the freedom of the big city and the possibility to find your own kind and live among them. As the band says:

They heard me singing and they told me to stop
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
These days my life, I feel it has no purpose
But late at night the feelings swim to the surface

'Cause on the surface the city lights shine
They're calling at me, come and find your kind
Sometimes I wonder if the World's so small
That we can never get away from the sprawl
Living in the sprawl
Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights

We rode our bikes to the nearest park
Sat under the swings and kissed in the dark
We shield our eyes from the police lights
We run away, but we don't know why
Black river, your city lights shine
They're screaming at us, we don't need your kind
Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small
That we can never get away from the sprawl
Living in the sprawl
Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights

Here's the video:


In their next (and so far latest) album, Reflektor (2013), we find the song We Exist. It would be released in 2014 as the third single from the album.

We Exist conveys a message of self-empowerment and equality. The song was described by Arcade Fire lead singer Win Butler as "about a gay kid talking to his dad" and coming out to his straight father. Introducing the song onstage, Butler also said that "the right to marry anyone you want is a human rights issue." As the lyrics say:

They're down on their knees
Begging us please
Praying that we don't exist
Daddy it's fine
I'm used to 'em now
But tell me why they treat me like this?
It's cause we do it like this

Maybe it's true
They're staring at you
When you walk in the room
Tell 'em it's fine
Stare if you like
Just let us through

Let 'em stare, let 'em stare!
If that's all they can do!
But I'd lose my heart
If I turn away from you

Oh Daddy don't turn away
You know that I'm so scared
But will you watch me drown?
You know we're going nowhere
We know that we're young
And no shit we're confused
But will you watch us drown?
What are you so afraid to lose?

Down on my knees
Begging us please
Praying that we don't exist
You're down on your knees
Begging us please
Praying that we don't exist

But we exist
We exist
We exist
We exist
Maybe if you hang together
You can make the changes in our hearts
And if you hang together, you can change us
Just where should you start?

Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man) stars in the music video as a transgender woman. Here it is:


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