Single Review: Arcade Fire – ‘We Exist’
2 min read
Keeping in mind Arcade Fire released one of the standout albums of 2013, there’s going to be high expectations for any single they bring out. Some people think their effortless style is easy, and just sit back and let their style of music graciously wash over them. In a way those people are right – that’s what it’s designed to do, but look just a little deeper and you can see layers and layers of musical know-how and talent tied up and trapped within all their songs. New single We Exist is no exception and just goes to show if you didn’t know already, how important the band are to today’s music and the effort you must put in to make songs this good.
Building on a bass and drum intro that can have you reminiscing of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, the tracks gentle use of gutsy guitars building up to a powerful chorus will leave your head spinning. Simple but effective, it then plays the trick again but this time adds synths into the equation that creates an alternative feel later on in the track. It’s this type of subtleness that makes them such a good band and worthy to be up there with the best. Being able to manipulate and place hooks throughout the music without the listener hardly noticing is a skill hard to master, and before realising it you’ve been humming the song for hours. If there was a political party looking to adopt some sort of brainwashing music to get more voters, they’d only to have to call Arcade Fire and the general public would be putty in their hands.
We Exist is a definite highlight of their latest Album and a good advertisement to go and have a listen if you haven’t already. Not as instantly catchy as lead single Reflektor, but a whole lot more complex and solid in my opinion.
