Three years away between one album and another for one band can mark a removal from typical sounds and stylistic or, on the contrary, a continuity and a strengthening of the same. In the case of Arcade Fire both are worth. Why Pink Elephant (Columbia Records / Sony Music), their seventh studio album out on May 9, arrives after a 2022 that saw not only the publication of the previous album (We) but that above all was marked by the wave of accusations of sexual abuse launched by several women against the singer and founder Win Butleralways declared himself innocent and strenuously defended by his wife, as well as co-founder of the group, Régine chassagne.
As far as the scandal has translated into nothing done, the episode cannot fail to have left a mark. The pink elephant of the title, on the other hand, represents that: something that the more you try to ignore and the more it appears in front of you. And then, after the necessary time, it must be changed: and the Canadian band does it, but remaining in the wake of the tradition of that elaborate and contaminated musicality that made it famous. It is only a little more minimal, let's say softly, but there is everything in the 42 minutes of duration of the ten tracks of the album, recorded at the Good News Recording Studio in New Orleans. The production is branded butler-chassagne, now more and more protagonists, in collaboration with a character of the caliber of Daniel Lenois.
To open the album is the dark and windy introduction of Open Your Heart or Die Trying (beautiful title, you have to admit it) which attacks the title track of the album, Pink Elephantwith a sober guitar as a common thread, a sincere song and basically a feeling of positivity, despite the symbolic meaning of the animal of the title. Because, after all, the pink elephant can also be able to ignore it. Year of the Snake It is the single chosen to launch the album, released in the Chinese year of the snake, a zodiac sign that represents change. “It's a Season of Change/and If You Feel Strange/It's probably good“, Sing Win and Régine, for the first time in the history of the band she on bass and he on drums. The song, with a peaceful pop rock trend, reflects on the themes of breakage and rebirth (like the snake that changes skin), which will peep through the whole album. But it is an individual, intimate, less choral reflection. An inevitable path after having crossed difficult years (with or without responsibility, on which we can pronounce).
The delicate 80s electric Circle of Trust He launches the theme of trust, the same that the Arcade Fire must reconstruct with their loyal fanbase and which also passes through a sort of club, a “circle of trust” precisely, where you enter by accessing their site and providing email, a country of origin and date of birth. Alien Nation It develops on Synths based on choruses and counter -strips, distortions that continue at the beginning of the short Beyond Salvationwhere alien voices are replaced by female choirs.
Laughs or die It is a consoling lullaby that cradles you with her pinched guitar, I Love Her Shadow An electronic ballad that sounds like a mix between The Killers and U2 (let's not forget that there is Lanois on this album and its presence feels in many songs). Like Open Your Eyes and Beyond Salvation, too She Cries Diamond Rain It acts as a bridge with the next song, pure sound without words. The closure of the album is entrusted to the engaging Stuck in My Headdefinitely the most arcadefirian among all the tracks, where echoes of the first albums and beautiful vibrations that confirm that they are still them, those of Funeral.
Presented live with a minitour that started from Mexico City on April 22, with stages such as New Orleans, Montreal, Brooklyn, this first launch phase will end at the Royal Albert Hall in London on May 14th. Now we just have to wait for the official tour dates to find out what the live version will reserve for us.
Tracklist Pink Elephant:
Open Your Heart or Die Trying
Pink Elephant
Year of the Snake
Circle of Trust
Alien Nation
Beyond Salvation
Laughs or die
I Love Her Shadow
She Cries Diamond Rains
Stuck in My Head
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
