Everything Now Review: Disappointment
Arcade Fire finally topples under their own weight
Among the pantheon of the few bands I’ve seen live, Arcade Fire stands out. I watched them perform in an amphitheater in Atlanta, and their weird, quirky brand of indie rock filled the area in a way that was truly special and unique. Not only did the band perform beautiful songs flawlessly, but their energy and passion filled these already-great musical ventures with even more depth.
That concert solidified in my mind what I already knew from their catalog alone — Arcade Fire is a deeply talented band that has written some fantastic music. Recently, I wrote about their then-newest single, “Everything Now.” I loved it (and still do). It’s an anthemic, energetic exploration into new musical territory, and showed the band at their best.
The song “Everything Now” remains fantastic, but the album that bears the same name is not. The lyrics remain mostly great, and the music itself is fine (if not interesting). As a whole though, this newest project feels bloated and oversized, and it’s a disappointment both to myself and other longtime followers of this group. Arcade Fire is still capable of making good music, but this is far from their best.
Because the fate of this album is a product of the band’s history and rise to fame, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on how we (myself, the band, the rest of their fans, music critics, etc) arrived at this point. This is a band that grew from a small indie group into the winners of the prestigious Album of the Year Grammy. Obviously, any band receiving this level of recognition has to forfeit its “indie” status, but it’s difficult for a band with this level of following to do that.
It’s impressive, to say the least, that Arcade Fire arrived at this point. The album that brought their greatest recognition — The Suburbs — is a hulking monstrosity that runs well over an hour in length. It was an odd choice for a Grammy Award by this element alone, especially considering the other artists that Arcade Fire beat out. Take a look at this list: Eminem, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Lady Antebellum, Arcade Fire. Which one of these artists seems out of place?
It wouldn’t be surprising to see this level of attention completely break a band in half. Arcade Fire subsisted for years on the rabid passion from their fans, and rode the indie-rock surge of the early 2000s to its absolute zenith. Many of these same fans didn’t particularly care for The Suburbs, and the infamous line “I listened to this band before …” perfectly describes many followers of Arcade Fire. Their new levels of fame seemed completely out of place with their origins and fanbase.
But Arcade Fire handled their new attention and fans well, and churned out another album just two years later. 2013’s Reflektor released to strong reviews and acclaim, and kept the band’s momentum going solidly forward. But if The Suburbs seemed long when it came out, this newest effort dwarfed it at 75 minutes long. It was weird, strange, and utterly unconventional in many ways. In other words, it fit the band’s ethos perfectly. In the lead-up to Everything Now, Arcade Fire went even further, launching one of the strangest marketing campaigns that I’ve ever seen. The Ringer’s Rob Harvilla sums it up well here, and I won’t go much further on my own since I want to focus on the music itself from this point forward.
Sadly, Everything Now is a huge disappointment, especially given that the title track is so good. When I wrote my initial impressions of the song, I called it one of the band’s best because of its tight focus and energetic hooks. I struggle to stay engaged through albums as long as The Suburbs and Reflektor, and while I liked both of these efforts, I feel much more at home with the band’s more accessible efforts. Sadly, although the runtime of the album as a whole is only 47 minutes, it feels nearly as long as its two immediate predecessors. It’s long, unfocused, and feels almost forced and hyper self-aware. Perhaps most simply, Everything Now just isn’t fun to listen to.
Finally, the weirdness and over-the-topness has caught up with Arcade Fire. Reflektor was weird, but it was weird in a good way because the music behind it was excellent. As long and overpowering as this album was, there was always enough musical talent to make the act of listening worth it. The song “Reflektor” is a piercing look at the modern age, coupled with pulsing electronics that give it energy. And in all fairness, the single “Everything Now” is just as good. Positioned at the front of this newest album, it starts the trek beautifully. The problem is that everything falls apart as soon as this track ends.
Take “Infinite Content” and “Infinite_Content,” two songs coupled in the album’s bulky middle. These two songs are variations on a theme, one that relies on juxtaposing the phrases “infinite content” and “infinitely content” in what is meant to be another piercing social commentary. That’s an interesting idea, and one that’s worthy of the band’s and listeners’ time. However, it’s not enough for a song on its own, and it’s certainly not enough for two songs that are only marginally different. Even if the total runtime of these two tracks is short, it all feels like wasted time.
Sadly, I’m not alone in my evaluation. Harvilla concluded that,
Everything Now is the first album where the balance feels off, where the exhaustion sets in before the record even drops, where the noise thoroughly defeats the signal. Its content is not, in fact, infinite. But it sure as hell feels like it.
In the same vein, a contributing review at Sputnikmusic wrote,
Unsurprisingly, this is what happens when you narrow your scope on the concept of everything, trying to curtail a spectrum of spectrums without deciding on an angle with which to approach it. Arcade Fire aren’t at a loss for words, they’re just at a loss for things to say.
Sputnikmusic has always been one of my favorite music websites. Their reviewers are often eloquent and the site’s review scores often line up with my own tastes. As a whole, the people who frequent it think highly of Arcade Fire. Funeral has an average of 4.3, a high mark that is nearly unheard of for most bands. Their other projects score highly too, with the notable exception of Everything Now (at least as of July 31st). I’ve made a rudimentary chart below:
Looking past my horrible handwriting, the outlier on this list is obvious. Averages can change over time, but it’s unlikely that Everything Now will see a sharp spike in favorable opinions. And I have to agree with this sentiment. Arcade Fire has made some great music, and even on this effort have several great moments. But it’s not enough to redeem the lack of focus everywhere else. For myself, and many other fans, this is the group’s worst effort by far.
I imagine that Arcade Fire is still just as much fun live as they were several years ago. I also imagine that they have just as much fun making music, and their weird marketing campaign and internet presence show that they’re just as engaged as ever. So the fact that this album is not good isn’t a death blow to either their careers or the future of the band as a whole. Funeral will always be regarded as one of the best releases of the 2000s, and the band should easily hold on to their storied reputation.
Unfortunately, Everything Now doesn’t live up to it.
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