Pitchfork

Whether it's new tracks on their website, YouTube infomercials, cryptic pamphlets, grainy videos of Clash covers, or Win destroying his guitar on SNL, the Arcade Fire have been dropping fans new treats on a near-daily basis for well over a month. But don't get too comfortable: After the release of Neon Bible this Tuesday, all that's likely to see a significant dropoff (and just in time, we might add!). But first: Actual, honest-to-god mp3s. So you know they're running out of other shit to give away.

"Black Mirror" is a rumbling, ominous track that introduces the listener to the album's more worldly themes: If Funeral magnified individual hardship, then "Black Mirror" shows Neon Bible is about making larger events (like war) personal.

One of the track's most striking aspects is the audibility of the studio-- rather than just cranking the reverb, here the Arcade Fire sound like they're becoming even more comfortable with the recording process. The subtle backwards echo on Win Butler's vocals amplifies song's the unreal, fairytale references without distracting from the band's trademark grandiosity.

MP3: > The Arcade Fire: "Black Mirror"
[from Neon Bible LP; due 03/06/07 on Merge]

New track (and sure bet single) "Keep the Car Running" sounds like it will follow "Rebellion (Lies)" in becoming an unlikely club hit (at least here in New York City). There's a strain of Bruce Springsteen gallop running through its strong back beat and two-note bass line, but the violin swells mark it as an Arcade Fire song. The song's big draw, though, is its triumphant revival of the hurdy gurdy, an instrument more or less absent from rock and roll since Donovan's 1968 album Hurdy Gurdy Man. Like "Black Mirror", "Keep the Car Running" distills a country full of paranoia into one night of sleepless anxiety.

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