So, as many of you know, The Arcade Fire‘s highly anticipated third album, The Suburbs, leaked today. The Arcade Fire are one of my favourite bands so I was totally psyched for this album. Here are my first impressions (which are subject to change).

It’s good. It’s not a disappointment. The Arcade Fire have not “lost it” or anything along those lines. However, at this point in time, as I write this, I don’t think the album is quite as good as either Funeral or Neon Bible.

Here’s the thing: firstly, there’s far less emphasis on the string section this time around. I mean, do you remember how awesome those violins were on songs like “Laika” or “Neon Bible?” Really awesome! Now they sound so scaled back, lower in the mix. The Arcade Fire was the band that made string sections a big thing in rock! I mean, I can understand wanting to change things up, but those violins were amazing!

The other thing I have a problem with is that Win Butler doesn’t sound as engaged. It’s like he doesn’t have anything to prove anymore. Do you remember listening to “Rebellion (Lies)”? Do you remember the power that was in his voice? I remember an AllMusicGuide review said it was like a lion tamer’s whip that got shorter with each strike. Now it just seems like he’s doing his thing, but that sense of danger and urgency that made him so exciting isn’t there anymore.

That being said, every song on The Suburbs is at least good. Even “Month of May”, which I’d say is the worst Arcade Fire song, is still pretty good. “Ready to Start”, “We Used To Wait”, “Roccoco” and plenty others are great, great songs. Better than most of the music out there these days. Still, they don’t stand out the way “Wake Up” or “Intervention” did. They just do their thing, and they’re great, but it’s not the same.

The Suburbs isn’t The Arcade Fire‘s Forgiveness Rock Record - a highly anticipated album that meets and exceeds expectations; one that sounds like it’s been given the laborious effort over and above what’s required. What it is is a solid collection of songs by great songwriters that doesn’t aim for the heights hit by the two albums that preceded it. However, as I said, this is only my first impression, and it’s likely to change, so check back soon for updates.

Obviously a touchstone album of the decade, I remember how I came to like, and then love, Funeral.

At first I really didn’t.

I remember I was at Greenwood in the work out room and I started talking to one of the teachers about music. She asked me if I’d heard about her friend’s band from Montreal, the Arcade Fire, and I said no, I hadn’t yet. And she said, “oh, you will.” Pretty much right after that I saw that Funeral received a glowing four-star review from RollingStone.com. I checked out a couple songs and…wasn’t really into it. I thought it sounded kind of lame, maybe even emo. I told the teacher that I’d heard about them but wasn’t really into it.

For some reason, a year later I came back to those songs…and really liked them. I downloaded the rest of the album and yeah, I really liked it. I really liked the lyrics also. “Our mother shuuuuuuuuuuuldaaaaaaaa/Just called you laiiiiiikaaaaa/It’s for your own good/It’s for the neighborhood.” How cool did I think it was when I found out Laika was the name of the dog the Russians launched into space with no intention of it ever returning to Earth? Very cool. Or “There’s a fire out/In the heart of man/Take it from your heart/Put it in your hand.” And “Our bodies get bigger but our/Hearts don’t grow up/We’re just a million little gods turning rainstorms/Turning every good thing to rust.” Sorry Kanye, but Win Butler is my nominee for voice of this generation. I think everyone kind of thought that when they heard these songs.

True, Radiohead had already touched on how technology was and is dehumanizing our civilization, but whereas they always sounded so ominous, sophisticated and techno-godly, Arcade Fire sounded uplifting and human. Where Radiohead made amazing music for the head, Arcade Fire made amazing music for the heart.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wq917ucGaE]

What makes a song great? What makes some songs greater than others? I’m not 100% sure. It’s tough. Some songs are big, fast and grand. Others have power in their intimacy and understatement. Over the next several days, I will post my picks for the top 25 songs of all time, posting five more each day counting down to the all time greatest song of all time. I only picked one song per artist based on the potency of the lyrics, melody, performance and production. Here’s the first five:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJDsm1Y4kUk]

This week’s band of the week is from across the pond. They’re a band with a big anthemic sound that’s moving and majestic and will swing your heartache beautifully. I was listening to them on the pod while marching over to my friend Charlotte’s goodbye-bonfire (I’m not going to see her for a good, long time now cuz she’s on a hitchhiking trip across Canada and by the time she gets back home I’ll be up in Halifax) and it was just fantastic. More on their sound in a bit, this week’s band of the week is…

BRITISH SEA POWER!!!

Hopefully many of you already know BSP but if not, you’re in luck, cuz once you listen to them they’ll blow your brains out of your bumholio. These brits released their first album, The Decline of British Sea Power, in 2003 to wide acclaim but not much press over in North America. A shame, because they were totally ahead of their time, playing anthemic indie rock before The Arcade Fire got huge. The first album displayed a love of the Pixies, Joy Division and My Bloody Valentine and it’s first half is more spastic and Frank Black-esque with the second half containing the more drifting, pretty songs like “Carrion” and “Fear of Drowning”. Their second and third albums (2005’s Open Season and 2008’s Do You Like Rock Music?) left behind most of the Pixies influence, with Open Season focusing more on prettier, softer songs and DYLRM basically blatantly attempting to out-anthem The Arcade Fire.

Many of the band’s lyrics are poetic meditations on life and politics. Allusions to water and escaping to the peace of the ocean are quite common as well. Then again, some songs like “No Lucifer” off DYLRM are just random words thrown together with no particular meaning. Regardless, you probably won’t pay much attention to the lyrics other than the one’s that really jump out like “The salt, the spray, the gorgeous undertow/Always, always, always the sea/Brilliantine mortality” in “Carrion” or “Oh it left my heart broken/ It took my breath away/ A lesson open/ A little more each day/ A little eyesore/ A little Nytol/ A little heartache/ A little soothe-all,” in “To Get To Sleep”.

Listen you assholes, find someway to hear these damn albums because they’re huge and beautiful. Get them onto your ipod and go for a run and you’ll feel like the seraphim are uplifting you unto a land of topless glory. Don’t pay attention to the title of the first album, there’s no decline here, BSP has power to spare.

http://www.myspace.com/britishseapower