Arcade Fire. Pink Elephant. Poignancy and positivity combine with perseverance on the Canadian indie rockers’ seventh album. The first single from it, Year Of The Snake, is a smooth, euphoric groove that hypnotises you like a snake charmer’s pungi as it builds and grows. In the Chinese zodiac, the year of the snake symbolises wisdom, transformation, and soul-searching, all of which bring us to the (pink) elephant in the room. In 2022, the Grammy-winning band’s frontman Win Butler was accused of sexual misconduct (sexting). He denied the claims and was never charged, but admitted having consensual relationships with women other than his wife – bandmate Régine Chassagne. This ten-track post-crisis album hints at the compromises that have kept the couple together. Régine half-sings, half-whispers lines like, ‘The season of change, and if you feel strange, it’s probably good.”
The sombre but heartfelt alt-pop title track addresses the pink elephant paradox which states that attempting to suppress a thought or feeling can magnify it. ‘Take your mind off me a little while,’ sings Win. ‘In the darkest place I saw you smile/And the way it all changed, makes me wanna cry.’ The couple co-produced the 10-track album with Daniel Lanois. Régine makes her bass-playing debut and he drums for the first time. Tracks range from the intense Alien Nation to poppier love song I Love Her Shadow via trippy Open Your Heart. Driving dance number Circle Of Trust ups the energy, with whispers of “ecstatic nights”, and the album climaxes with Stuck In My Head, which sounds closest to Arcade bangers of yore. On the exquisite indie folk track Ride Or Die, Win suggests they don’t need the band “I can take you anywhere…I don’t care/I can work a 9-to-5, you can be an actress…” Don’t bet on it.
Counting Crows. Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets. The blissful 8th album from the resurgent California rockers combines tracks from their 2021 Butter Miracle: Suite One ep with 5 new numbers. Spaceman In Tulsa embodies their timeless Americana appeal. You hear their Springsteen influences on Bobby & The Rat-Kings and Adam searches for meaning, and possibly more beard dye, in Under The Aurora.
Suzanne Vega. Flying With Angels. The US folk star shows her class on her first album since 2016. Highs include rocking opener Speakers’ Corner, about utilising free speech against the avalanche of groupthink, and Chambermaid which reimagines Dylan’s I Want You from the maid’s p-o-v: ‘When I dream of him at night, he slips his pen into my hand and says, “Don’t forget to write”.’
Spear Of Destiny. Janus. The Pack, Theatre of Hate, Spear Of Destiny…Kirk Brandon was always one of the sharpest post-punk talents. Here, he re-records two Spear albums including tracks his label perversely vetoed, such as crowd favourite Pumpkin Man. Gems like The Jungle, Outland and Never Take Me Alive, make the 24-track vinyl double LP potent and compelling.