All Prayed Up
Montreal's Arcade Fire, the flaming apex of greater North America's indie-rock scene, asked their audience to forget they were in church Tuesday night at the start of the second night of five shows at Manhattan's Judson Church on the southern edge of Washington Square Park. That was easier said than done, however. A gorgeous green John La Farge stained glass window glowed above a flickering literal representation of the title of the band's forthcoming album, Neon Bible, which happened to have been recorded in a church outside Montreal. The music consisted in large part of vigorous anthems concerning faith, doubt, and hope.
The ten-member group includes a pair of French horns, a pair of strings, a Moog synthesizer, and a lot of instrument swapping, with echoes of pomp rock ranging from ELO to the Polyphonic Spree. "There's a big black wave in the middle of the sea for me," sang songwriting bandleader Win Butler in a voice pitched halfway between David Byrne and Bruce Springsteen. Butler, who hails from Texas, introduced one song with a wry comment about living in "hard times" when "things can go either way." (Arcade Fire's universally lauded 2004 debut, Funeral, was the group's surprisingly positive method of mourning passings close to the group.) "But isn't there a smidgen of hope?" he inquired later in the show.
After stating that he and his wife don't celebrate Valentine's Day, Butler sweetly dedicated the following song to band member-spouse Regine Chassagne. "My body is a cage that keeps me from dancing with the one I love," he sang in hymn-like phrases as church-organ chords moaned behind him, crescendoing to a climax. "Set my spirit free!"