For everything there is a season,
And a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate,
A time for war, and a time for peace.
- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
The Arcade Fire's 2004 debut album Funeral got its title because some members of the band had experienced losses in their families throughout the recording process. Through ten songs, they turned their pain and heartache into an outstanding, powerful, lush and overall rocking record, proving that there is indeed life after death.
While listening to this album on repeat for the last couple of weeks, I have drawn parallels with the most of the music, atmosphere and lyrics from this album with three significant days in my life: the day I found out my father died, the day after I found out my father died, and the day of my father’s funeral. The quote from Ecclesiastes above was read at my father’s funeral and bits and pieces of it definitely crossed my mind more than once while listening to this album.
The album opens up with the cinematic “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels).” The opening notes/riff is reminiscent of the introduction of the song “Two Step” from the Dave Matthews Band. But, while listening, you can tell that they are not ripping them off and that they have another agenda in mind. This is the first of four songs on this album that have a ‘neighborhood’ theme. “Tunnels” takes you into a sort of a 1950’s Americana neighborhood where teenagers had to sneak out of their houses in order to be with their boyfriends or girlfriends. The instrumentation, in my opinion, represents a boy and a girl coming together. When listening to the song with headphones, you hear the introduction played by a piano, which is quite soft and feminine, in the left ear, and in the right ear you hear it played by an electric guitar, which could be considered rough and masculine in some ways.
The neighborhood that I live in, Marine Park, is a pretty quiet neighborhood; almost suburban-like. It is very calm in the morning, which is the time of day that I left to go to work the day that I found out that my father had died. I thought that this would be a regular summer day; register new students coming into Brooklyn College, enjoy some expensive coffee and come home tired from a long days work.
From here, we are then transported to another ‘neighborhood’ with the next track, “Neighborhood #2 (Laika).” They tell the story of Alexander, who is based on Laika, the first dog to be put into orbit by the Soviets on the space shuttle Sputnik 2 in 1957 who died soon after the shuttle was launched. You can hear the similarities between their Alexander and Laika within the lyrics. Both are on “great adventures” and they’re doing it “for the neighborhood,” which in this case, can be the entire then Soviet Union when talking about Laika. It sounds as if you are hearing street music when you’re walking through a Russian neighborhood. This song is one of the best on the album and definitely makes the accordion sounds cool, which I never thought could happen.
The bus that I take to get on campus runs through highly Russian and Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods. While listening to it on the bus ride to and from school, I saw people walking up and down the blocks and the music just seemed to fit the atmosphere that I pass through everyday on the bus ride to school.
“Une Année Sans Lumière” (translation: a year without light) is one of the slower songs on the album, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not powerful. Although the French lyrics are a bit hard to understand in translation (“Je monte un cheval/Qui porte des oeilleres” roughly translates to “I ride a horse that wears blinkers” and “La nuit, mes yeux t'eclairent/Ne dis pas à ton père/Qu'il porte des oeillieres” roughly translates to “Tonight, my eyes light you up/Don’t tell your dad that he’s wearing blinkers”) the song makes a statement. Just when you think that the song is going to end on the 2:43 mark when everything starts to slow down, the song picks up speed, if only for a minute. As if to be saying that yes, the lights are out and you might be down, but let’s make the best of it and have a bit of fun. “A time to mourn, and a time to dance.”
“Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)” is another rocker; very powerful and definitely in-your-face with the opening riff. There is a lot of aggression and angst throughout this song and you would think that a riot is going to start any minute. It reminds me of the opening scene of Rent where everyone is burning every piece of paper that they have to keep warm and are complaining to their landlord about how much they are paying in rent to keep the apartments. “A time to keep silence, and a time to speak.”
“Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)” and “Crown Of Love” sound like they could have been released on Paul McCartney’s first solo album McCartney in 1970. Both songs have a very down-home feel to it, very simple instrumentation. One thing that I love about “7 Kettles” this song is how the violins sound like teakettles. And the last verse of “Crown Of Love” describes my situation with someone that means a lot to me at the moment (“You got to be the one/You got to be the way/Your name is the only word that I can say”).
“Wake Up” is quite reminiscent of any given David Bowie song, which isn’t a bad thing. They’re urging children to “wake up…before they turn the summer into dust.” And just when you think that the song will go in one direction musically, it all of a sudden changes tempo and atmosphere when you least expect it. It goes from sounding like a Bowie track from the 70’s to a catchy ragtime piano stomper that you just want to dance to.
The only song I was a bit irritated by was “Haiti.” The song itself is great, and Régine Chassagne has a great voice and brings a lot to the track, but it sounds like she is singing under water, which got under my skin a bit. It’s unfortunate that she sounds like this throughout the track because she has a really amazing voice, which you can hear throughout the rest of the album whether back-up or lead vocals.
“Rebellion (Lies)” was my first introduction to the Arcade Fire without even knowing it. This song is featured in PRODUCT(RED) commercials that run over and over again on MTV Hits and I had always wondered who recorded the song, but never was able to find out. From the intro and bass riff, I was able to tell immediately where the song was from. I had always thought that the song was catchy from what I heard in the commercials and now that I’ve heard the whole song, I can understand why Bono wanted to use it in this campaign. We are surrounded by lies everywhere we go, and we cannot fall asleep and let these lies pass for the truth (“Sleeping is giving in/No matter what the time is/Sleeping is giving in/So lift those heavy eyelids”).
The song that I can relate to the most is the album’s final track, “In The Backseat.” At first listen, it brought tears to my eyes. The first two verses really got to me. It brought me back to when I was riding home from the cemetery the day of my father’s funeral. (“I like the peace/In the backseat/I don’t have to drive/I don’t have to speak/I can watch the countryside/And I can fall asleep/My family tree’s/Losing all its leaves/Crashing towards the driver's seat/The lightning bolt made enough heat/To melt the street beneath your feet”) This song brings the album to a very poignant close, and if the soundtrack to my life were on a multiple CD set, this would close the disc that would have played during the time in my life when my father was alive.
I honestly didn’t think that I was going to enjoy this album. I don’t usually listen to indie rock or current music in general. My music collection is stuck in the 1970’s and 1980’s for the most part. This album was a pleasant surprise for me at this point in my life. I didn’t expect to have such a connection with the music, but isn’t that what music is all about, after all? Music is about connecting words and sounds with your emotions, whether happy, sad, angry, romantic or whatever the case may be at the time. Funeral has been one of those albums that had gotten me through a very rough time in my life and kept me company when I felt sad and lonely and I’m glad I opened my mind up to this band and this album and enjoyed it to the fullest.
© Allyson Yates, 2008
