The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire
- December 18th, 2011
- Posted in KEY IDEAS to plunder
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- concept/themed album
- great melodies
- emotive yet rocking
- simple instrumentation arrangements
01 ‘The Suburbs’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire
- rollicking rhythm 6/8? 12/8?
- add ornamentation in 2nd verse, strip back in 3rd verse
02 ‘Ready To Start’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire
- single note riff, adds second semitone to create tension
- after last line drums turn to toms, building to next section (verse or repeat chorus)
- final section intro: rapid fire bass line (synth?), drums reduced to kik
03 ‘Modern Man’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire
- add a beat to a 4/4 riff
- chorus: vox melody doubles with lead gtr, then deviates
04 ‘Rococo’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire
- ‘musical’ word with syllables extended/repeated; eg. ‘rococo-coco’
- marry a synthetic inst with a natural acoustic inst. eg. legato synth bass and ac gtr
05 ‘Empty Room’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire
- play riff/beat as fast as possible
- pulsing monotone stays consistent throughout all chord changes
06 ‘City With No Children’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire
- riffs on 2 chords, sliding from the tonic to the 4th and back
- bass, gtr and kik/tom all on the riff
07 ‘Half Light I’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire
- cello/string section finale, doubled with indistinct vox
state melody first, then add vox but keep low in mix, lyrics unintelligible - accent with highest possible notes eg. triangle
08 ‘Half Light II (No Celebration)’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire
- companion or sequel to previous track
- great synth pulse/delay
09 ‘Suburban War’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire
- picked elc gtr intro, verbed – Beatle-esque sound
- pause then big finish: new beat, tom based – faster?
10 ‘Month of May’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire
- ‘1234’ vox count in – when track is clearly not an ensemble of players
- about three quarters in, organ does semitone (flattened) tonic, changing key
11 ‘Wasted Hours’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire
- country style ac gtr playing
- pause into chorus
12 ‘Deep Blue’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire
- one note piano riff – on the snr beat – reminiscent of police’s ‘every breath’
- elc gtr – 2 note riff/solo
13 ‘We Used To Wait’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire
- elc gtr stabs match snr tuplets, big verbed sfx/stab every few bars, fem bv match snr too
- middle (between 2nd verse and 1st chorus): single chord instrumental build
14 ‘Sprawl (Flatland)’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire
- distant, verbed (warehouse) percussion against intimate vox – lonely feel
- staccato(?) violin – like ‘godfather’ italian drama
15 ‘Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire
- 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 - rapid two note off beat highlight
- last track on the album, continuation of first track on the album – bookend the album
- same chords, same melody, same chorus lyric, same tempo but different feel
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