More about: David BowieLCD SoundsystemArcade Fire
Band also predict LCD Soundsystem will reform
Arcade Fire has spoken out about their recent collaboration with David Bowie on Reflektor, saying that it 'echoes' the work he did with John Lennon before his death.
Bowie lends guest vocals to the title track from Arcade Fire's upcoming album. In a new interview with The Sun, frontman Win Butler reveals that it was recorded in the same mood and venue as where the The Thin White Duke made 'Fame' with John Lennon.
"It's like meeting a mentor, someone who has navigated pop and experimental stuff. There are very few role models you can point to who have success like that," said Butler - talking about working with The Next Day icon. "Many artists get lost chasing success and end up killing what brought them success in the first place."
He continued: "What was cool was that we were mixing at Electric Lady studios in New York. The line he does on 'Reflektor' echoes the line he does on 'Fame', the song he recorded in the very same studio with John Lennon. So he showed up and said, 'The last time I was here I was recording with John Lennon.' And we looked at each other to say, 'And here you are recording with Arcade Fire.'
Watch the video for 'Reflektor' featuring David Bowie below
The album was co-produced by DFA founder and former LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy. Speaking of his love for the band, Arcade Fire member Richard Parry also predicted that LCD would reform in the future.
"We have tried to work with Murphy before but we could never match our diaries," said Parry . "But this time the schedules worked. LCD Soundsystem and Arcade Fire have toured together lots of times. We have always admired each other's band – LCD are our favourite band ever. I'd be shocked if James doesn't reform them one day. They are too good not to."
Below: Arcade Fire - Reflektor: what do the critics say?
Rolling Stone - "The way Butler and Chassagne, who are married, sing those lines in "Reflektor" is a sublime moment in the commotion. It is also a perfect summary of their group's still-fervent indie-born hunger after a decade of mainstream success... A two-record, 75-minute set of 13 songs and the best album Arcade Fire have ever made."
Q - "While Reflektor isn't so flawed as to strip them of their sash, it's a wobble on a podium, a needless error of judgement that could have been easily avoided."
Mojo - "Despite the lulls, the resistance to ending songs, Reflektor lets Arcade Fire shed expectations along with a skin, an act of rejuvenation few at their level manage with conviction"
NME - "It’s the emotional histrionics we expect from Arcade Fire; this is dance music with heart. Melodies and harmonies spin out like tendrils as a warm bridge provides a balm to the latent aggression."
Clash - "Undercooked electronics, impotent rhetoric, too-familiar crescendo-ing structures and an overall feeling that this needs further post-production attention render 'Reflektor' an entirely substandard album."
Uncut - "While the overall sound is massive, it's become somewhat restricted in tone and texture, most tracks careering towards climaxes of cacophonous synth whines and heavy rock guitars, a narrower palette than on previous albums."
The Quietus - "Even more dance influences manifest themselves with the added ingredient of very low-frequency bass and washes of keyboards. This really does give the impression of being mastered for power but the result is that a lot of the cymbals and percussion become lost."
The Fly - "It's this diversity that makes Reflektor more than a curio. While it's too long, so long, in fact, that you'll forget your own name and nationality - its scale immerses you entirely in Arcade Fire's universe. And, let's face it, they had to make their own. Ours is no longer big enough."
Pitchfork - "On "Reflektor", Arcade Fire elevate message over medium by relying on their true superpower, a belief that their own music must create a timeless, communal connection. It's a sleek, dark disco epic that doesn't belong to the 1970s, '80s, '90s-- or any decade, really."
Spin - "Reflektor is like Mad Men or a Mercedes or Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom: whether or not you like it, the quality of the art and the scale of the accomplishment are undeniable."
Issue Four of the Gigwise Print magazine is on pre-order now! Order here.
More about: David BowieLCD SoundsystemArcade Fire
Photo: WENN
