Neon Bible

Neon Bible
Studio album by Arcade Fire
Released March 3, 2007
Recorded 2006 in Quebec, New York, Budapest, and London
Genre Indie rock, baroque pop
Length 47:03
Label Merge
Producer Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire chronology
Funeral
(2004)		 Neon Bible
(2007)		 The Suburbs
(2010)
Singles from Neon Bible
  1. "Black Mirror"
    Released: January 22, 2007
  2. "Keep the Car Running"
    Released: March 19, 2007
  3. "Intervention"
    Released: May 21, 2007
  4. "No Cars Go"
    Released: August 6, 2007

Neon Bible is the second album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire, released in March 2007 on Merge Records. Originally announced on December 16, 2006 through the band's website,[1] the majority of the album was recorded in a church that the band bought and renovated.[2]

Neon Bible became Arcade Fire's highest charting album at the time, debuting on the Billboard 200 at number two, selling 92,000 copies in its first week and more than 400,000 to date.[3] Being released within a month of similarly successful releases by The Shins (Wincing the Night Away) and Modest Mouse (We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank), Neon Bible was cited as an example of the popularization of indie rock.[4] Critics offered the self-produced Neon Bible mostly favorable reviews. Publications like NME and IGN praised the album for its grandiose nature,[5][6] while Rolling Stone and Uncut said that it resulted in a distant and overblown sound.[7][8]

Contents

Production

Following the release of Funeral (2004), which had been recorded in an attic studio known as Hotel2Tango, Arcade Fire decided a permanent recording location was necessary. Following their tour in support of Funeral, the band bought the Petite Église in Farnham, Quebec.[9] Being used as a café at the time of purchase, the Petite Église had once been a church and a Masonic Temple. Once renovation of the church was complete, the band spent the latter half of 2006 recording a majority of the album there. They additionally recorded in Budapest, where a Hungarian orchestra and a military men's choir were used.[9] Other sessions included one in New York, where the band recorded along the Hudson River to be near water.[9]

Having recorded so many different, and sometimes conflicting, ideas for each song, it was decided that for the mixing it would be a good idea to get someone else to come in.[10] The band sent tracks to several well-known mixers/producers to experiment with and after deciding they liked Nick Launay's ideas best, invited him up to their studio to work on the songs further. For a month Launay worked with the album's engineer and co-producer Marcus Strauss on the mixing of each song, with the band regularly driving up from Montreal to assess their progress. In an interview with HitQuarters, Launay described the mixing process as a "playful thing".[10]

Composition

Beginning work on Neon Bible immediately following a North American tour in support of the band's first album, Funeral, songwriter Win Butler, born in the United States but having lived in Canada for several years, said that he felt he was observing his homeland from an outsider's point of view.[11] The album is rooted in Americana themes, with Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Presley being cited as influences.[12]

Arcade Fire began recording with what would become "Black Mirror" and a reworking of the Arcade Fire EP song "No Cars Go" as their starting point.[12] Once the title of the album was decided upon, the band was further inspired after they, according to Will Butler, "watched a lot of TV preachers, get-rich-quick schemes on YouTube."[12] The band was also attracted to using the ocean and television as central images for the album, with Win Butler saying the ocean imagery symbolizes a lack of control; of television, Butler stated that:

People don't necessarily know that they're taking on a worldview, or absorbing ideas [while watching television]. It doesn't necessarily seem like [it's happening], but it definitely does. I find it very easy to get sucked in. It starts to affect the way you see the world.

– Win Butler, Interview, Pitchfork Media[13]

These ideas are reflected in the arrangement and composition of the album, which lead to a sound of dread and dissonance.[11] The band used a number of less common instruments to achieve this sound; in addition to the orchestra and choir, Neon Bible features a hurdy-gurdy, mandolin, accordion and pipe organ.[14] Win Butler has said that in conceiving the album he hoped for a more stripped-down sound but the songs demanded further instrumentation.[13]

Artwork

The artwork for the album is a photograph of a six-foot neon sign that the band commissioned for use while on tour. In the photograph used for the cover, the lighted Bible is caught in mid-flicker.[9] Rolling Stone named the artwork one of the five best of the year.[15] AOL Music cited the cover as an example of an artist "keeping artwork alive."[16] The artwork would go on to win Tracy Maurice and François Miron the Juno Award for best CD/DVD Artwork Design of the Year.[17] Frontman Win Butler stated in an interview that the album title is derived from him being particularly attracted to the image, not from the John Kennedy Toole novel The Neon Bible.[2]

Promotion

Largely due to band member Régine Chassagne's Haitian ancestry, the band has tried to raise support and awareness for the socio-economic problems in Haiti throughout their career. On December 26, 2006, they supported Haitian charity organization Partners in Health by releasing the song "Intervention" on iTunes and donating the proceeds.[18] However, they accidentally uploaded "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations", the track after "Intervention" on Neon Bible. While the song was quickly removed once the problem was discovered, file sharers quickly circulated it on various P2P networks. On his blog, Win Butler quipped, "I guess it is sort of charming that we can send the wrong song to the whole world with a click of a mouse... Oh well."[19]

On December 28, 2006, the band allowed listeners to listen to their first single, "Black Mirror", by calling the number (866) NEON-BIBLE, extension number 7777.[19] The song was also streamed on the band's website beginning on January 6, 2007.[20] The following day, the band revealed a variety of information about the album through a YouTube video. The video, which played a number of sound clips from the upcoming album and featured "Juno award-winning guitarist Richard Reed Perry", gave the album's track listing, release date, and record label.[21]

On February 2, 2007, all the lyrics to Neon Bible was released on the band's website.[22] Also included was the text and an audio clip of a child reading "The Wolf and the Fox", a French fable allegedly written by 17th century French poet Jean La Fontaine, an allusion to "The Well and the Lighthouse", which is loosely based around the fable. This was followed on February 5, 2007 with the band releasing a promotional pamphlet as a JPEG image on their website that included album-related imagery and much of the French and English text from "The Wolf and the Fox".[23]

In October 2007, Arcade Fire created a website at beonlineb.com with the date October 6 displayed on it. After speculation over what the website was about, including rumors of new material or a live streaming of a concert, it was eventually revealed to be a video for "Neon Bible", featuring Win Butler's face and hands, which the viewer can interact with during the song. "Neon Bible" was the first song on the album to have a music video.[24]

Arcade Fire performing in support of Neon Bible at the United Palace Theater on May 7, 2007

Tour

Arcade Fire began their tour in support of the album in January and February 2007, playing a series of concerts at churches and other small venues in Ottawa, Montreal, London and New York. This was followed by a 23 date European tour in March and early April, though the last 9 dates of this were cancelled due to illness. The first North American leg of the tour began April 26 in San Diego and April 28 at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and contained 26 dates.[25] This leg contained openings by The National, St. Vincent, and Electrelane. The band then began an 11-date European leg at Glastonbury Festival on June 22 before returning to North America for 10 more LCD Soundsystem-supported dates beginning September 15 at Austin City Limits.[26] The Neon Bible tour continued with 14 more dates in Europe between October 25 and November 19, and six dates beginning January 18, 2008 in Australia and New Zealand as part of the Big Day Out festival. The tour then ended after three more shows from February 7 in Japan.[27]

Reception

Compared to the band's debut, Funeral, Neon Bible has experienced breakthrough commercial success. During its first week, it debuted at number one in both Canada and Ireland, and number two in the United States, the United Kingdom and Portugal. Neon Bible was out-charted only by Notorious B.I.G.'s greatest hits compilation in the U.S. and the Kaiser Chiefs's Yours Truly, Angry Mob in the UK.[28] It was certified gold by the CRIA in Canada in March 2007.[29]

Upon release, Neon Bible garnered mostly positive critical reception, receiving the seventh highest score of 2007 from review aggregator Metacritic.[30] NME reviewer Mark Beaumont commented the album "is a climactic monolith of a record in the grand tradition of melodic transatlantic clamour rock."[5] The A.V. Club reviewer Kyle Ryan interpreted the album as a commentary on the post-9/11 American world, saying that "the band is seemingly sending a beacon to other reasonable people forced underground by the world's insanity."[31] Stylus contributor Derek Miller saw the album in similar terms, saying that while the album touches on "violence, paranoia, the falsity of simple labor, the war-call of organized religion—a what's what of indie turmoil after 2003" the band go further to the point where its "thematic threads bind the songs."[32] Robert Christgau gave the album an A+, saying that Butler and co. "(t)hud rather than thunder. But what a loud and joyous thud it is." [33]

IGN, in giving the album 8.9 out of 10, said "the playing overall seems tighter and more cohesive" and that the album is a "grandiose project, one teeming with jubilant enthusiasm and reverent abundance."[6] Other publications agreed, but felt such was a negative. Rolling Stone reviewer David Fricke wrote that he was surprised such a large band could "sound so distant here so often," saying that "the result is a huge sound that only sparkles on the edges, leaving Butler alone in the middle."[7] However, Rolling Stone also named it the fourth best album of the year.[34] Uncut's three star review of the album said "at its overblown worst Neon Bible is one of those records that takes itself too seriously to be taken seriously."[8]

Neon Bible was a finalist for the 2007 Polaris Music Prize.[35] Neon Bible was nominated for Best Alternative Album for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. It was #4 in NME albums of the year, fourth in Rolling Stone's list of albums of the year and album of the year in Q in December 2007.[36] The album won the 2008 Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year.

Accolades

Publication Accolade Rank[30]
Billboard Staff Consensus 2007 Albums of the Year 2
Blender 2007 Albums of the Year 2
NME 2007 Albums of the Year 4
Pitchfork Media 2007 Albums of the Year 27
The Onion A.V. Club Staff Consensus 2007 Albums of the Year 1
Q 2007 Albums of the Year 1
Rolling Stone 2007 Albums of the Year 4
Spin 2007 Albums of the Year 2
Village Voice Pazz & Jop: 2007 Albums of the Year 5

Editions

Neon Bible was released in three versions. They included:

Track listing

  1. "Black Mirror" – 4:13
  2. "Keep the Car Running" – 3:29
  3. "Neon Bible" – 2:16
  4. "Intervention" – 4:19
  5. "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations" – 3:57
  6. "Ocean of Noise" – 4:53
  7. "The Well and the Lighthouse" – 3:56
  8. "(Antichrist Television Blues)" – 5:10
  9. "Windowsill" – 4:16
  10. "No Cars Go" – 5:43
  11. "My Body Is a Cage" – 4:47

Personnel

Arcade Fire (mixing, production, arrangement):

  • Will Butler
  • Win Butler
  • Régine Chassagne – Orchestral arrangements (tracks 1, 2, 10)
  • Jeremy Gara
  • Tim Kingsbury
  • Sarah Neufeld
  • Richard Reed Parry

Other personnel:

  • Mélanie Auclair – Cello
  • Hadji Bakara – Effects
  • Owen Pallett – Violin, orchestral arrangements (tracks 1, 2, 10)
  • Liza Rey – Harp
  • Marika Anthony Shaw – Viola
  • Brass: Pietro Amato, Edith Gruber, Margaret Gundara, Jake Henry, Laurent Ménard, Geoffrey Shoesmith, Colin Stetson, Andreas Stolzfus, Jacob Valenzuela, Martin Wenk
  • Vocals: Shauna Callender, Joanne Degand, Chantel Gero, Tasha Gero, Jean Sherwood
  • Peter F. Drucker – Choir conductor
  • István Silló – Orchestra conductor

Technical personnel

  • Frank Arkwright – Mastering
  • Scott Colburn – Engineer
  • Markus Dravs – Engineer, mixing (tracks 3, 5)
  • Nick Launay – Mixing (tracks 2, 4, 6–9, 11)
  • Jean Luc Della Montagna – Production assistant
  • Mark "Spike" Stent – Mixing (tracks 1, 10)
  • Other assistants: François Chevallier, Alex Dromgoole, Dave Emery, Doctor Brian A. Evans, Mike Feuerstack, Tommy Hough, James Hanna Ogilvy
  • Christophe Collette – Photography
  • Katherine Cram – Coordination
  • Daryl Griffith – Copyist
  • Olivier Groulx – Web design
  • Csaba Lokös – Orchestra contractor
  • Tracy Maurice – Director, artwork, package design
  • François Miron – Photography director
  • Renata Morales – Costume design
  • Vincent Morisset – Web design
  • Michael Paert – Coordination, editing

Charts and certifications

Chart Peak position[38]
Canadian Albums Chart 1
Irish Albums Chart 1
CMJ Radio 200 1
U.S. Billboard 200 2
UK Albums Chart 2
Portuguese Albums Chart 2
Norwegian Albums Chart 3
Final Albums Chart 5
Iceland Albums Chart 5
Australian ARIA Albums Chart 7
French Albums Chart 9
German Albums Chart 11
Danish Albums Chart 11
Dutch Albums Chart 13
Spanish Albums Chart 14
Swedish Albums Chart 16
New Zealand RIANZ Albums Chart 20
Swiss Albums Chart 23
Austrian Albums Chart 25
Italian Albums Chart 44
Country Certification Sales/shipments
Canada 1x Platinum[39] 100,000
UK Gold[40] 100,000

References

  1. ↑ "Arcade Fire name new album". NME. 2006-12-16. http://www.nme.com/news/the-arcade-fire/25507. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Modell, Josh (2007-03-14). "Win Butler of Arcade Fire". The Onion. http://www.avclub.com/content/interview/win_butler_of_arcade_fire/1. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 
  3. ↑ [1]
  4. ↑ Breihan, Tom (2007-03-15). "Let the Indie-Rock Chart-Wars Begin". Village Voice. http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/statusainthood/archives/2007/03/let_the_indiero.php. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Beaumont, Mark (2007-03-12). "Arcade Fire: Neon Bible". NME. http://www.nme.com/reviews/arcade-fire/8245. Retrieved 2008-04-01. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 D., Spence (2007-03-06). "The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible". IGN. http://music.ign.com/articles/770/770703p2.html. Retrieved 2008-04-01. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Fricke, David (2007-03-08). "Arcade Fire". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/13467688/review/13544415/neon_bible. Retrieved 2008-04-01. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Neon Bible". Uncut. April, 2007. http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/arcadefire/neonbible?q=Neon%20Bible. Retrieved 2008-04-01. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Micahels, Sean (2007-04-07). "Inside the church of Arcade Fire". Paste Magazine. http://www.pastemagazine.com/action/article/4047/feature/music/arcade_fire. Retrieved 2008-02-06. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Interview With Nick Launay", HitQuarters, 16 November 2009.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Kot, Greg (2007-03-06). "Band of the Year: An Interview with Arcade Fire". PopMatters. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/features/article/31307/band-of-the-year-an-interview-with-the-arcade-fire/. Retrieved 2008-03-02. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Dunlevy, T-cha (2007-03-06). "Arcade Fire's Second Coming". Dose. http://www.dose.ca/music/story.html?id=b0ae5651-5096-4c86-a2ce-811807f395f3&k=19020. Retrieved 2008-03-02. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Petrusich, Amanda (2007-05-14). "Interview: The Arcade Fire". Pitchfork Media. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/42659-interview-the-arcade-fire. Retrieved 2008-03-02. 
  14. ↑ Butler, Karl (2007-04-02). "Neon Bible". Junkmedia. http://www.junkmedia.org/index.php?i=2031. Retrieved 2008-03-02. 
  15. ↑ "Weekend Rock List: Best Album Covers of 2007". Rolling Stone. 2007-12-28. http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2007/12/28/weekend-rock-list-best-album-covers-of-2007/. Retrieved 2008-02-06. 
  16. ↑ Borzykowski, Bryan. "Picture Worth a Thousand Songs?". AOL Music. http://music.aol.ca/article/album-art/113/. Retrieved 2008-02-06. 
  17. ↑ Medley, Mark (April 6, 2008). "Juno 2008: Winners, part one". The National. http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2008/04/06/juno-2008-winners-part-one.aspx. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 
  18. ↑ PIH News
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Arcade Fire upload wrong song to website". NME. 2006-12-28. http://www.nme.com/news/the-arcade-fire/25593. Retrieved 2008-03-19. 
  20. ↑ "Pitchfork: Stream: Arcade Fire: "Black Mirror"". Pitchfork Media. 2007-01-06. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/40320-stream-arcade-fire-black-mirror. Retrieved 2008-03-19. 
  21. ↑ Wolosenko, AJ (2007-01-08). "Arcade Fire announce release date, tracklist for "Neon Bible"". Prefix Magazine. http://www.prefixmag.com/news/arcade-fire-release-date-tracklist-neon-bible/8886/. Retrieved 2008-03-19. 
  22. ↑ Phillips, Amy (2007-02-04). "Arcade Fire Reveal Neon Bible Lyrics". Pitchfork Media. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/40936-arcade-fire-reveal-ineon-biblei-lyrics. Retrieved 2008-03-19. 
  23. ↑ Phillips, Amy (2007-02-05). "Mysterious Arcade Fire Pamphlet Surfaces". Pitchfork Media. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/40952-mysterious-arcade-fire-pamphlet-surfaces. Retrieved 2008-03-19. 
  24. ↑ Richardson, Mark (2007-10-06). "Video: The Arcade Fire: "Neon Bible"". Pitchfork Media. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/download/45721-the-arcade-fire-neon-bible. Retrieved 2008-03-19. 
  25. ↑ Solarski, Matthew (2007-04-13). "Electrelane Get in on Arcade Fire Tour Action". Pitchfork Media. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/42338-electrelane-get-in-on-arcade-fire-tour-action. Retrieved 2008-03-21. 
  26. ↑ Maher, Dave (2007-10-08). "Arcade Fire Keep Beefing Up Tour". Pitchfork Media. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/44749-arcade-fire-keep-beefing-up-tour. Retrieved 2008-03-21. 
  27. ↑ Thompson, Paul (2007-11-27). "Arcade Fire Add More 2008 Dates". Pitchfork Media. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/47280-arcade-fire-add-more-2008-dates. Retrieved 2008-03-21. 
  28. ↑ Suarez, Jessica (2007-03-14). "Pitchfork: Arcade Fire's Neon Bible Debuts at #2". Pitchforkmedia. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/41729-arcade-fires-ineon-biblei-debuts-at-2. Retrieved 2008-03-28. 
  29. ↑ "CRIA Gold and Platinum Certifications for March 2007". March 2007. http://www.cria.ca/gold/0307_g.php/. Retrieved 2008-03-28. 
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 "Best of 2007 (Albums)". Metacritic. http://metacritic.com/music/bests/2007.shtml. Retrieved 2008-03-28. 
  31. ↑ Ryan, Kyle (2007-03-06). "Arcade Fire". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/content/node/59308. Retrieved 2008-04-01. 
  32. ↑ Miller, Derek (2007-03-05). "Arcade Fire". Stylus. http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/arcade-fire/neon-bible.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-01. 
  33. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Neon Bible". http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=The+Arcade+Fire. Retrieved 2010-08-03. 
  34. ↑ "The Top 50 Albums of 2007". Rolling Stone. December 27, 2007. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17601851/the_top_50_albums_of_2007/2. 
  35. ↑ "Arcade Fire, Feist on Polaris short list". http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2007/07/10/polaris-shortlist.html?ref=rss. Retrieved July 10, 2007. 
  36. ↑ 50 Best Albums - January 2008
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Album description page "Neon Bible album notes". 2007-03-05. http://www.mergerecords.com/catalog.php?item_id=464&method=item& Album description page. Retrieved 2008-03-23. 
  38. ↑ "Arcade Fire - Neon Bible - Music Charts". aCharts.us. http://acharts.us/album/14874. Retrieved 2008-03-23. 
  39. ↑ Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA): Gold & Platinum - January 2005
  40. ↑ "Certified Awards". British Phonographic Industry. http://www.bpi.co.uk/platinum/platinumright.asp?rq=search_plat&r_id=32894. Retrieved 2008-06-09. 
Arcade Fire
Win Butler • Régine Chassagne • Richard Reed Parry • William Butler • Tim Kingsbury • Sarah Neufeld • Jeremy Gara • Marika Anthony-Shaw
Colin Stetson • Owen Pallett • Kelly Pratt • Howard Bilerman • Brendan Reed • Myles Broscoe • Dane Mills
Studio albums
Funeral • Neon Bible • The Suburbs
EPs
Arcade Fire • Live EP
Singles
"Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" • "Neighborhood #2 (Laïka)" • "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" • "Cold Wind" • "Rebellion (Lies)" • "Wake Up" • "Black Mirror" • "Keep the Car Running" • "Intervention" • "No Cars Go" • "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" • "The Suburbs"/"Month of May" • "We Used to Wait" • "Ready to Start" • "Modern Man"
Related articles
Discography • Awards • Dark Was the Night