On Tuesday, Arcade Fire will release their anticipated second full-length album, Neon Bible, on CD and LP.
Check the links below to order and listen to an advance track from the new album
The album’s release follows a year of astonishing success for an indie rock band that was little known just a couple of years ago. But after release of their debut album Funeral in 2005, the band quickly amassed a huge fan base and rocketed to heights many bands never come close to after playing for decades.
You can get a sense of a rock group’s success from many different angles.
But when a group sells out nearly a dozen shows just minutes after the concert tickets go on sale, you can bet something bigger is happening.
During the past two years, Arcade Fire have sprung to rock stardom, making them one of the hottest and most popular rock groups on the planet.
Tell that to the band members. Until recently, the band members claim they were largely unaware of the full magnitude and reach of their success. On the Internet alone, there are hundreds of fan sites, articles, tabs, chords, lyrics, reviews, biographies, interviews and more.
By now, they can’t help but to know they are world famous, even being featured on Time magazine, usually a cover that is reserved for world figures and cultural icons.
The buzz from critics and fans about just how fantastic their music is seems to not affect the guys and gals of Arcade Fire – they appear to be keeping it real – living the “indie rock” lifestyle, and at least suggesting they are not about to embrace the trappings of stardom. It’s a refreshing sign at a time when so many bands that started indie have gone big-time and have never looked back.
Members of Arcade Fire are not the kind of band that will brag about selling out an entire concert tour in just minutes. In fact, band members don’t care about the high-flying, money-spending lifestyle of rock stars.
They are just as happy playing for 50 people as they are for 5,000. Band members still drive old cars and wear second-hand clothes and they seem genuinely astonished that their debut album so quickly became of the most popular albums of the past year.
The question is: How long can they keep it “real”?
Hard-core indie fans (which are very difficult to define) have watched bands like The Starting Line, Fallout Boy, Bloc Party and The Killers go “Hollywood” by signing on with one of the five dominant record conglomerates (Sony, EMI, Capitol, Universal, Warner Brothers), taking the money and running with it.
The cross-over from a small label to one of the Big Five seems to be what many indie rock fans, writers and critics is what really sets an authentic indie group apart from the rest who claim to be indie/alternative.
The question is: Can a group go Big Five and remain true to the indie and alternative rock fan base, culture and to themselves or do they buckle to managers and record executives, compromising not just their soul, but their music and integrity for fame and money?
That’s part of what attracts many fans to Arcade Fire. They are original and make damn good music. They buck the industry trends whenever possible and lash out at any attempt to take creative control of their work.
* Exclusive advanced release MP3 from Neon Bible, “Black Mirror“
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Check out the band’s profile on Merge Records – The deluxe CD version includes a paperboard clamshell box containing a 32-page flip book designed by Tracy Maurice and the Long Play (LP) version is minted for double 180-gram audiophile quality, featuring three sides of music plus an etching on the fourth side.
As an extra bonus, the LP also includes a coupon code for a free MP3 download of the entire album.
