Almost three years after the Arcade Fire’s 2004 full-length debut, FUNERAL, stunned indie-rock fans with its majestic scope and romantic ferocity, the Montreal-based ensemble returned with NEON BIBLE. Although the album lacks the from-out-of-nowhere punch of the former record, it serves as a fitting successor, with the group’s sweeping sound enhanced by even more prominent layers of piano, organ, strings, and percussion.

As on FUNERAL, married multi-instrumentalists Win Butler and Regine Chassagne share vocal duties, and their distinctive singing adds to the emotional weight of each song, from the urgent, bass-heavy “Keep the Car Running” to the brooding, cinematic “Black Waves/Bad Vibrations.” And while the Arcade Fire’s post-punk influences are still on display, they are more fully integrated into the band’s ambitious aesthetic, as best evidenced on the lush, nearly operatic update of “No Cars Go,” which originally appeared on its ‘03 EP. With its cathedral-like grandeur kept in check by the group’s restless energy, NEON BIBLE features both slowly revealed charms and immediate thrills, easily making it one of the most impressive albums of early ‘07.

Tracklisting
1. Black Mirror
2. Keep The Car Running
3. Neon Bible
4. Intervention
5. Black Wave/bad Vibrations
6. Ocean Of Noise
7. Well & The Lighthouse, The
8. Antichrist Television Blues
9. Windowsill
10. No Cars Go
11. My Body Is A Cage

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.82) – 3.5 stars out of 5 — “NEON BIBLE is an aggressively gothic record, explicitly so in the pipe organ that soars over the hunger and wreckage in ‘Intervention.’”

Rolling Stone (p.108) – Included in Rolling Stone’s “50 Top Albums of the Year 2007″ — “A seven-piece band that makes joyous noise out of fear and foreboding.”

Spin (p.85) – 4.5 stars out of 5 — “NEON BIBLE actually matches the live show’s scope and emotion….It feels carefully considered yet uncontrived, a bubbling mix of raw confusion and refined conviction.”

Entertainment Weekly (p.105) – “[T]he polyphonic swirl of strings, horns, and voices points toward transcendence.” — Grade: A-

Q (p.107) – 5 stars out of 5 — “[A] magical kingdom of noise that’s equal parts Disney’s FANTASIA and Echo and The Bunnymen’s lavish OCEAN RAIN.”

Alternative Press (p.182) – 4 stars out of 5 — “[A]n effortlessly creative offering running from upbeat jangle-pop to understated, stripped down arrangements…”

Magnet (p.90) – “Arcade Fire’s raw passion and heartfelt ambition remain intact….An undeniable flame still burns.”

Q (Magazine) (p.89) – Ranked #01 in Q’s “The 50 Best Albums Of 2007″ — “[G]reat records are made by great songs, and NEON BIBLE has riches aplenty…”

This Montreal ensemble’s fiery debut is marked by surging guitars, soulful strings, driving drums, brilliant bass lines, and the quavering vocals of married couple Win Butler and Regine Chassagne. The group’s song structures careen through a vast territory of musical and personal history, with lyrics warm with memories of childhood neighborhoods and deceased loved ones, resulting in an alternating current of joy and sadness.

Favorably compared to the Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, and Broken Social Scene, the Arcade Fire’s sound seems to come from a lifetime of listening to the Cure, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, and many others–even a dose of soul gets worked into these grand anthems. Chassagne delivers some spellbinding vocals on “Haiti,” while the tinkling piano and strings on “Crown of Love” conjure up a heartbroken surfside prom. In 2004, this made many critics’ year-end lists, and it’s no wonder–the songs on FUNERAL are so packed with unique instrumentation, mesmerizing build-ups, and galvanizing tempo changes that they seem culled from some enigmatic, decade-spanning rock anthology.

Tracklisting
1. Neighborhood # 1 (Tunnels)
2. Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
3. Une Annee Sans Lumiere
4. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
5. Neighborhood #4 (Kettles)
6. Crown Of Love
7. Wake Up
8. Haiti
9. Rebellion (Lies)
10. In The Backseat

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.173) – 4 stars out of 5 – “FUNERAL aches with elegiac intensity….FUNERAL captures the agony and even ecstasy of surviving death all around you.”

Rolling Stone (p.141) – Included in Rolling Stone’s Top 50 Records Of 2004 – “[W]ith lavishly orchestrated, emotionally stunning tales…”

Entertainment Weekly (p.81) – “FUNERAL is a lovely, uplifting, and often pleasingly grandiose whirl through a panoply of sounds…” – Grade: B+

Uncut (p.104) – 4 stars out of 5 – “Their songs strike out at unexpected angles, bringing to mind a morbidly romantic 19th-century Radiohead.”

Magnet (p.100) – “[A] compelling debut….FUNERAL deals with grief by obsessing over new relations and future births, decorating each lost leaf in brilliant fall colors.”

CMJ (p.38) – “Putting the ‘fun’ back in FUNERAL, the debut disc from Montreal indie-pop sextet Arcade Fire exhumes instrumentation extinct since third-grade music class and sets them ablaze in anything but a macabre fashion.”

Mojo (Publisher) (p.58) – Ranked #2 in Mojo’s “The 50 Best Albums Of 2005″ – “[T]he Montreal orch-rock sextet’s debut was fervent and uplifting.”

Mojo (Publisher) (p.59) – Ranked #60 in Mojo’s “100 Modern Classics” — “Joyful, original and sweet.”

Mojo (Publisher) (p.96) – 4 stars out of 5 – “Echoes of Wire at their mid-’80s jackhammer funk zenith abound on ‘Rebellion’, while yearning cellos frame a breathtaking turn from Chassagne on ‘In the Backseat’.”

Clash (magazine) (p.78) – “Few albums of similar emotional intensity have had the same staying power as FUNERAL…”