Arcades on Fire

Yes, lots of people posted on the new Arcade Fire single, "Intervention." I don't care. I like it, and I want to write about it too. Screw this "on the cutting edge" crap. Kudos to those that are on top of that ball nationally - but I'd rather focus on the great stuff coming out of the Mid-Atlantic and rely on those other guys to keep me posted on this stuff.

In case you didn't see this over at Stereogum or You Ain't No Picasso, they explain where this came from (originally aired on the BBC, ripped from the radio broadcast to MP3, yada yada yada...), so I'm not going to bother.

Check it:
The Arcade Fire - Intervention

So what do I want to say about this that hasn't already been said? Mainly, the most reassuring thing about this track to me is that I don't hear a band overreaching to do something new and different. There seems as though there is so much pressure on bands right now - from bloggers, from Pitchfork, from the media, from fans - to wow us with everything that they do. We expect new albums to be some kind of epiphany of artistic progress. Really, I don't give a shit about all of that. I just want to hear good music.

This is a great song. It sounds like the first album of Arcade Fire songs. Maybe its a little bigger; maybe the drum sound is a little more filled out than those that were on Funeral. But this doesn't sound like a band that is buying into its own hype (read: The Decemberists), or one that is trying to outdo itself (read: Sufjan Stevens). It sounds like a band doing what they do - they're not trying to be something that they aren't just for the sake of doing something "new," and they don't seem to have some kind of new grandiosity because David Bowie loves them.

And that, friends, is why I love it. This is their song. I imagine they don't really give a shit what we think of it. And ultimately, that's probably why it works as well as it does.

Bravo.