The year's first MUST HAVE album (or, the first that I've heard) is Arcade Fire's Neon Bible, the follow up to their exceptional debut Funeral. It's sort of amazing. It's sort of stunning. It's the sort of the album that will be hailed as a masterpiece in 20 years time because people don't like using that word for new stuff. It's the sort of the album with songs that lesser and greater artists will be covering after the same amount of time. It's the sort of album that has jungle beats and organs and you don't bat your eyes and question the logic of said musical choices. It's the sort of album that channel's Bruce Springsteen, New Order and U2 yet still sounds wholey original, fresh and personal. It's the sort of album where you don't want to skip any tracks. It's the sort of album I wish artists would listen to and try to mimic because I'd rather albums that sound like this than albums that sound like that, even though they're sort of very similar. It's the sort of album that everyone will want to claim as their own because it's so intimate and emotionally switched on. It's sort of brilliant.
Go out now and buy it, please. You owe it to yourself. And also, go back and listen to Funeral. You've probably forgotten how amazing that was too.
