Feb 05
Oct 11
Oct 06
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Past the Feeling: How Arcade Fire stole 2010
With festival-stealing headline performances at Reading and Leeds and a critically-acclaimed third album charting Number 1 in the UK, Canadian indie band Arcade Fire have emerged in 2010 as genuine mainstream contenders.
The band’s third album The Suburbs is a searching, aching record that documents a loss of identity amid the pace of the modern world. It articulates a deep desire to return to a feeling that can’t be retrieved; to a time when we took time for granted.
‘When all of the houses they built in the 70’s finally fall,’ sings Win Butler on the title track, ‘[It] meant nothing at all, it meant nothing’.
So what is it about this record that has connected with the public imagination? Apart from the exceptional attention to detail (the album was 3 years in the making), the feeling of uncertainty about who we are and how we fit in is a sentiment that many people identify with. We’re scared of losing ourselves and yet scared of being left behind.
Talking about the album in June this year, lead singer Win Butler said: ‘I think in life in general you want to understand where you came from and where you are. I think that’s where people start to feel schizophrenic about their own life – when where you came from and where you are don’t make sense.’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqEDSVUvJ7A&feature=related)
We’re all searching for answers. Where are you looking?
Arcade Fire play Birmingham LG Arena on 08 December 2010.
Download: We Used to Wait
Oct 05
0
The Amateurs set to headline Impact
Prize-winning indie-pop group The Amateurs will headline Impact on Friday 15 October at O’Neills, Broad Street.
The Birmingham-based band have played support slots for UK chart-toppers Athlete and in June this year won a competition to have their song featured on an advert for electronics giant Wacom.
Kerrang! Radio describe the four-piece as, ‘easily one of the most talented bands that we’ve supported,’ predicting: ‘The Amateurs are surely now set to move it on to the next level’.
The band will be supported by The Broken, a simmering, energetic rock outfit fronted by local legend Andrew Gordon, who make their full live debut at the event.
Organiser Mike Blaber enthuses, ‘Impact is back with a huge set that promises to be the best so far.
‘The Amateurs’ indie-rock headline set will blow you away. And with Andrew Gordon’s The Broken supporting, this night is truly not to be missed!’
Impact’s reputation as one of the premier nights for promoting local music talent has been gathering pace since it started in 2009. Previous headline acts have included This Beautiful Thief and The Black & Reds.
Entry is free. Doors open at 8pm. For further details and information log on to www.theoasischurch.com/impact.
