Singles

Arcade Fire - Wake Up

12/12/2005

Rating: 4/5

There hasn't been a better received, more loved and respected album than Arcade Fire's “Funeral” to be released in the UK this year: fact! It's surely the best album of the year and its little wonder why when the sound they make is awe inspiring, wondrous, orchestral alternative rock music with a sensitive heart.

Wake Up is the latest cut from the album and it's perhaps the best: building waves of distorted guitars, soldier drum beats and jubilant rushing melodies sung by a thousand calling birds are weighted by Win's glorious vocal that dips, swoops, and finally soars to squeeze out all of emotion from his beating brave heart. (“If the children don't grow up/Our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up!”)

Joyous, epic, and splendidly realised, this is music to fall in love to: music to inspire: music to document the highs and lows. At a time when the world is war torn, full of disaster and heartbreak the music of the Arcade fire makes you believe in the power of sound to transcend boundaries, unify and make you believe in life again.