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: