• concept/themed album
  • great melodies
  • emotive yet rocking
  • simple instrumentation arrangements

01 ‘The Suburbs’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. rollicking rhythm 6/8? 12/8?
  2. add ornamentation in 2nd verse, strip back in 3rd verse

02 ‘Ready To Start’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. single note riff, adds second semitone to create tension
  2. after last line drums turn to toms, building to next section (verse or repeat chorus)
  3. final section intro: rapid fire bass line (synth?), drums reduced to kik

03 ‘Modern Man’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. add a beat to a 4/4 riff
  2. chorus: vox melody doubles with lead gtr, then deviates

04 ‘Rococo’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. ‘musical’ word with syllables extended/repeated; eg. ‘rococo-coco’
  2. marry a synthetic inst with a natural acoustic inst. eg. legato synth bass and ac gtr

05 ‘Empty Room’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. play riff/beat as fast as possible
  2. pulsing monotone stays consistent throughout all chord changes

06 ‘City With No Children’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. riffs on 2 chords, sliding from the tonic to the 4th and back
  2. bass, gtr and kik/tom all on the riff

07 ‘Half Light I’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. cello/string section finale, doubled with indistinct vox
    state melody first, then add vox but keep low in mix, lyrics unintelligible
  2. accent with highest possible notes eg. triangle

08 ‘Half Light II (No Celebration)’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. companion or sequel to previous track
  2. great synth pulse/delay

09 ‘Suburban War’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. picked elc gtr intro, verbed – Beatle-esque sound
  2. pause then big finish: new beat, tom based – faster?

10 ‘Month of May’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. ‘1234’ vox count in – when track is clearly not an ensemble of players
  2. about three quarters in, organ does semitone (flattened) tonic, changing key

11 ‘Wasted Hours’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. country style ac gtr playing
  2. pause into chorus

12 ‘Deep Blue’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. one note piano riff – on the snr beat – reminiscent of police’s ‘every breath’
  2. elc gtr – 2 note riff/solo

13 ‘We Used To Wait’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. elc gtr stabs match snr tuplets, big verbed sfx/stab every few bars, fem bv match snr too
  2. middle (between 2nd verse and 1st chorus): single chord instrumental build

14 ‘Sprawl (Flatland)’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. distant, verbed (warehouse) percussion against intimate vox – lonely feel
  2. staccato(?) violin – like ‘godfather’ italian drama

15 ‘Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. bridge: changes key, up 3 steps. ending returns to original key
    <capo 3rd fret> C Am F C – Eb Cm (G bridging chord) – C Am F C
    I VIm V I  – (up 3 steps) I VIm  – bridging chord: III major (new key)/V major (old key) – (down 3 steps) I VIm V I
  2. rapid two note off beat highlight
16 ‘ The Suburbs (continued)’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. last track on the album, continuation of first track on the album – bookend the album
  2. same chords, same melody, same chorus lyric, same tempo but different feel