When a new album comes out from one of my favourite bands, it comes with lofty expectations. ' Everything Now ' did not match my expectations.





When the band released the album's title-track as the first single, I liked but didn't love it. I thought it was a catchy piece of pop fluff (I won't call it Abba-esque because too many others already have) with sarcastic lyrics that was easy to market and hoped that it would be surpassed by other material on the album. Then they released the synth-heavy 'Creature Comfort' and again I had similar thoughts. That was followed by the funky 'Signs of Life' and an increasing feeling of disappointment with the direction of this album. The Regine led " Electric Blue " brought some nostalgia for ' The Suburbs ' and " Sprawl II " but did nothing to convince me that a disappointment wasn't coming when the album finally arrived.





So ' Everything Now ' is here and it certainly hasn't matched my initial expectations. I say 'matched' instead of 'met' because this album has gone in a direction I wasn't expecting it to go. It has managed to circumvent my expectations and good god damn is it a joy! On this album, Arcade Fire don't just want you to feel, they want you to move.





As with all of Arcade Fire's albums, there is a central theme here that ties it all together, and this time they've set their sights on commercialism. This theme ties into poppy sound and the heavy use of repetition on the album.





Like ' Reflektor ', this album is set up as two sides. Side A of ' Everything Now' is full of up-tempo dance tracks and ends with the punk blast of " Infinite Content ". Side B opens with the mirror version of that track, the countrified 'Infinite_Content', and plays more like the come down after the party. Side B also features the album's best songs in " Put Your Money On Me " and " We Don't Deserve Love ". Both of these songs can easily fit into the band's top ten, though it's possible that I just feel this because they sound closest to the old Arcade Fire sound.





In hindsight, releasing four singles before the album came out was an effective way of reducing the shock of the new sound which encompasses most of ' Everything Now '. Overall this isn't a perfect album (Peter Pan, I'm looking at you) but it's more triumph than disaster.





Best Song:

Put Your Money On Me







