Music: {allcanada} Album of the week: Arcade Fire's 'Reflektor'

Monday, October 28, 2013

{allcanada} Album of the week: Arcade Fire's 'Reflektor'

Returning from The Suburbs, Grammy's 2010 Album of the Year, Arcade Fire seems bent on escaping the mainstream heat and reinforcing a cooler indie brand.

They mostly succeed on Reflektor (* * * out of four), the Canadian band's dense, patchy and sprawling fourth album. Many of the 13 songs, spread across two discs, stretch past six minutes and some lose their bite in the process. But much of the music — audacious, heavily distorted and bubbling with electronics — sounds magnificently fresh. Co-producer James Murphy of defunct LCD Soundsystem brings his rhythmic chops to the mix in dizzying dance hybrids.

Reflektor reflects Arcade Fire's cynical gloom and sonic swashbuckling at every unpredictable turn.

Download: Joan of Arc, We Exist, Porno, Reflektor, You Already Know

Sycamore Row - John Grisham