Arcade Fire – Reflektor

Arts and English Literature students be aware, Arcade Fire’s new album Reflektor was released last week. The first thing that strikes is the production: this is a well-produced album. The punching disco beats hit the fingertips and are just about powerful enough to get the body moving. However, the tracks are long, which may lead to any emotions built up at the start dwindling as the urge to check how many minutes remain until the next track overwhelms.

There’s just too much going on with the first disc and certain tracks sound like something that’s been played on the radio before. The peculiar dub beats on Flashbulb Eyes and Here Comes the Night are fun, though heavily influenced by producer James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem.

And so begins the second disc. Here Comes the Night II is a perfect example of something short, sweet and ethereally beautiful. The layering of sounds engulfs the ears with waves of string instruments – the organic type that touch the heart.  The second disc definitely has an airier feel to it, one of those “drift off into nothingness on the top deck of the 134 bus” set-ups. It serves as a perfect wind-down to the undulating rhythm of disc one.

It’s clear what they’re doing here: it’s MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular all over again (when fans were confronted with something spectacularly different from Kids). Arcade Fire are clearly having fun experimenting with sounds and pushing past the marching band anthem persona one might expect from them. And why shouldn’t they? Die-hard fans are sure to grow into this LP (if they’re not infatuated with it from the start).

Nastassja Smart

Reflektor is released on 28^th October 2013. For further information or to order the album visit Arcade Fire’s website here.

Watch the video for Reflektor here: