To be honest, I needed to listen to the title track a few times before I ever even gave the rest of the album a fair chance. I’ve never been a huge fan of Arcade Fire until recently. I even went through Arcade Fire’s albums chronologically to compare. While Suburbs is a spectacular album, Reflektor is with out a doubt their best work.
The more I listen to the album, the more I fall in love with it. Reflektor is like “Sell your soul to the Devil” good. There is definitely a theme played throughout this record. Reflection: deep consideration during meditation, an image, representation, or counterpart. With the dark you have light, materials that are shiny and fracture easily, a mirrored image.
The songs dissect the meaning of reflection. They make you contemplate life and then dance and have fun, dance and have more fun, and end in contemplation. The design is magnificent. The album cover is black ink printed on a reflective material that has a rainbow sheen in the light. The inside slip covers: one dark, one light. The vinyl labels, one black, one white. Nothing can be reflective without light for we would not know light without the darkness. The icing on the cake: the end of the album is a reflection of the album being played backwards – play it in reverse and it is the album forwards. Mind = Blown.
I am going to see Arcade Fire’s Reflektor tour, live at the United Center in August. I will be sure to share my experience!
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