Review Summary: Baby's first track-by-track
I’ve got too much time on my hands. How else to explain the amount of mental energy I’ve exerted comparing the quality of Arcade Fire’s latest album with their 2017 notable disaster
Everything Now? The fact that
Pink Elephant is even comparable to the band’s universally-accepted previous nadir is bad enough, but I think their latest output probably marks a new low. There may not be any tracks here which make you want to pull a Van Gogh on your own ears like “Chemistry” did, but
Everything Now also possessed a few quality tracks, like “Electric Blue” and “Put Your Money On Me”, and Arcade Fire seems incapable of crafting tracks now in which one solid musical element isn’t let down by another poor one. As a longtime fan, the resulting calamity has been like being unable to look away from a car crash, so here’s my track-by-track thoughts on
Pink Elephant.
“
Open Your Heart or Die Trying” - Fairly inoffensive, I guess, but I’ve got nothing positive to say, and it utterly fails as an instrumental opener by being completely disconnected from anything else on the album.
“
Pink Elephant”- Very lame, starts a trend of being sonically inoffensive but lyrically trite and melodically pedestrian.
“
Year of the Snake” - The first track which I have anything positive to say about - that one chime-y motif is really nice (produces some nostalgia for 2000s indie in me) and the “
it’s the season of change, and if you feel strange, it’s probably good” chorus could be great in a different tune, but overall it’s quite a mess. Lyrics are once again questionable at best, and somehow both Chassagne’s and Butler’s vocals sound way worse than they used to be.
“
Circle of Trust” - Good lord, this song is way too long. I don’t even like
Reflektor as much as some do, but the dance-y stuff on that album is on another level compared to this. The lyricism here feels like a parody of Arcade Fire - “
Kid Icarus”, blah blah blah, ugh. One of the weakest tracks here.
“
Alien Nation” - On its own merits, probably the worst song here, though I at least appreciate the higher energy level within the tracklist. Lyrics are genuinely atrocious (bit of a trend!) and the winks at a faux punk and/or metal thing goes either too far or not far enough. The end result sounds kinda like one of the weirder cuts from The White Stripes, which Arcade Fire very much cannot pull off.
“
Beyond Salvation” - A short interlude, it’s futuristic and not bad, much better than the opener. Doesn’t really do anything to further the album’s structure though.
“
Ride or Die” - This song doesn’t have any moments which feel jarring or immediately cringe, so that’s a positive, and, indeed, on a surface level this is sufficiently pretty. However, its simple and mellow presentation allow for a focus on the lyrics, which are completely vapid. Probably one of the better tunes here, but that’s not saying much.
“
I Love Her Shadow” - So close to being the album’s first true success! The “
breaking into heaven tonight” chorus is corny but kinda works, but unfortunately the band at this point in time is incapable of carrying a track for more than a few minutes - this time, the primary flaw is the far-excessive repetition of various phrases over a listenable yet mediocre beat.
“
She Cries Diamond Rain” - The only track I’m fully sold on - it’s quite beautiful and, grasping at straws, I really think an Arcade Fire album of warm ambient-y stuff could be kinda cool. That said, this track is barely over a minute long and instrumental, so the fact I’m praising it more than anything else here is damning.
“
Stuck in my Head” - Hints of promise here and there on this closing track, there’s a propulsive feel here which I appreciate, but given it goes over seven minutes, late stage Arcade Fire is basically assured to include some missteps. Musically, this isn’t bad, but predictably the lyrics let this one down - for the track length, there’s basically no real substance, just a bunch of related phrases, which aren’t very good to begin with, being repeated to the point of annoyance. Win Butler simply isn’t enough of a vocalist at this stage to sell it, like, at all.
So there we go! It’s worth noting that, fundamentally, the allegations against Win Butler which emerged since previous album
WE don’t notably impact my perception of this album. Sure, there are various lyrics here which feel icky when placed into broader context, but it’s vital to note that lines like “
but I’m a real boy, my heart’s full of love” or “
it’s a mess in my bedroom” would’ve been stupid anyway. The point is, we don’t even need to assess this material at any deeper level to see that it’s just not very good.
Where does this set of thoroughly disappointing and utterly vapid new music leave these indie darlings of yester-decade? I’d say that they can only go up from here, but I said the same thing after
Everything Now, and here we are. As a longtime fan, I may find
Pink Elephant grotesquely fascinating, but its worst attribute is that, for a listener less invested, this record will more likely be completely boring than entertaining in a gloriously stupid way. Lookin’ for signs of life is awfully hard right now.
