Composer Reacts Arcade Fire - Arcade Fire presents Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) (REACTION)
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- Bryan reacts to and talks about his thoughts on Arcade Fire - Arcade Fire presents Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
ORIGINAL VIDEO // • Arcade Fire - Arcade F...
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![First time ever listening to Arcade Fire - Wake Up [REACTION]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4iAjQFDzwD4/mqdefault.jpg)
Oh how I love a perfectly constructed wall of noise
Used to listen to this song a lot back in the day. I think the lack of dynamics, repetition, and constant depressed tone of the vocals thematically works really well. Lyrically, the song's about feeling stuck in life, and there's no resolution -- the singer ends the song feeling just as stuck as it began. The song opens up with ideas of punching the clock day-in day-out in a dead-end job and the line "These days, my life, I feel it has no purpose", which perfectly sets the tone for the lack of the movement in the song. The singer's feeling stuck, and you as the listener are made to feel musically stuck.
Yup, I could see those lyrical themes cropping up in the musical ideas here. It's a cyclical song with no momentum or direction.
Fucking yes
exactly lol
Love it man! Not enough Arcade Fire
Love Arcade Fire, but this is definitely one of the less musically interesting songs off The Suburbs (their third album). Maybe check out "Suburban War" or "Deep Blue", my favorites from the same album.
Or the previous track, Sprawl I (Flatland)
Nah this is one of their best songs
totally bryan
Enjoyed this, thanks! While you're right this song perhaps doesn't vary as much as some, I find it an example of AF's talent for elegant songwriting, finding the subtleties with the layering that really hit the spot with fans like me. This one usually comes near the end of their legendary live shows, and it is a just a joy. You mention the end just petering out, at that point I am swept away in the song's whole essence. Maybe it's the personal stake in it I have as a fan, the sense of nostalgia it evokes... in a similar way to, say, an Abba song does.
AF's albums are heavily themed, and this one (The Suburbs) is generally sparse, melancholy, nostalgic. As the other fan said, Suburban War is great for something more stimulating, and Deep Blue is an interesting deep cut! I'd throw in some with dense instrumentation and production from the first two albums, Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels), Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out) and Ocean Of Noise.
For you, or anyone who may be interested, there are two excellent remixes of this song that I enjoy, that explore different parts of the song:
A remix by Damian Taylor and Arcade Fire, which keeps the song mostly intact, but the changes alter the dynamics really nicely. Brings out that 'essence' of the song I mentioned above.
And a Soulwax remix, typically for them injecting a sense of propulsion, as well as raising the other vocal you were interested in (Win Butler, usually the lead singer) to be the main one at some points.
Oh, also there's a full band acoustic version I adore, as it brings out something new from the ending, found by searching for Arcade Fire Sprawl Sound Opinions
Haha, I typed a lot, this is my "soul-band" I guess
Someone else mentioned that the song is about feeling stuck in life; punching in to work and not feeling like anything really matters at the end of the day. I can totally see that cyclical element in the song and even in some of those moments of lacking energy. Knowing this I think the song comes together more strongly than I originally understood it to. I'll have to check out the acoustic version and see what I think of that.
You need to react to more of them, they have so many damn good songs. Their first álbum is a great start.
The bittersweet sense of being stuck in life with a cheerful melody yet in repetition - never getting away from the Sprawl, going back and forth of the chords in the chorus, it's all thematic and fits so well it's one of their best songs.
I found this the most interesting song in the album. I love the emotion in her voice. Plus ive seen them live like 4 times
I’m not sure how much you know about the history of popular music but there are singles and records. Sometimes a song, like this one, won’t necessarily be designed as a single but as much or more an element of the whole album. I’d recommend that after you’ve listened to the song go back and listen to the entire record for its place in the full piece.
They are soooo talented! Hard to tel which part of the band is the lead.
Ohhhh this song is beautiful.
Great insight as always, Bryan! I don't have much to add about this track, it's definitely one of my favourite songs by them, but I feel it works way better paired up with Sprawl I, as it's definitely a two-parter. It's also the climax of the album and much like the song itself, The Suburbs is an album that's greater than the sum of its parts. There's something about the imagery of malls raising like endless mountains and feeling trapped in a big urban landscape that simply gets me. Lyrically it's pretty straightforward, but that's a plus for me.
The remix by damian taylor is the real deal !
Agree but a shame he left out those beautiful lead synths in chorus 2!! Wonder why he did that.
@@itsamazeofmirrors I understand. You're right. Intriguing choice.. On the other hand, the addition of the prominent dry guitar tones kicking in at 'Black river your city lights shine' is delightful ❤️🔥
Another good one, Bryan
The Suburbs (the title track) is definitely the best and most interesting song on the album.
Totally argee with you Bryan.
Arcade Fire were arguably THE critical darlings of the 21st century after the release of Funeral in '04, which many still refer to as one of the (if not THE) best album of this century. I went through their discography a few times, and while I found them enjoyable enough I just didn't get the hype. Every album for me hovers around that 6-8-out-of-10 range for me. This song is pretty typical of my reaction to them. It's catchy, it has nice textures in the instruments and production, but it's quite repetitive and doesn't really go anywhere interesting (the entire bridge is basically a few minor harmonic modulations, and the outro is mostly just some orchestral-like stabs). I think a band like The New Pornographers have a vaguely similar sound (not as grandiose) but do it much better.
Imo Funeral clicks better when taking into consideration the many deaths surrounding the release of the album. It's the kind of album that grows with added context. The childlike nature of most songs is devastating in a quirky way when considering the album is drenched in grief. The Suburbs took way longer for me to really get and I was deeply undewhelmed by it at the time of release tbh, aside from a few tracks (this one included).
Everything has sense in Arcade Fire, even the repetitive stuff. And while I agree that it's sometimes poorly executed (the Everything Now album) I think it absolutely works on the earlier records because they don't aim to be catchy - they aim to convey a feeling and atmosphere. Much like Bowie. Most people couldn't name a single Bowie song except for Heroes perhaps but even that one is repetitive if you look at it from that perspective. Music is more than playing catchy tunes & complicated solos.