Arcade Fire - 30 Seconds Away

The Arcade Fire's Funeral is deservedly on everyone's top-five list for 2004.

The Washington Post had this article on the album yesterday, in which Allison Stewart wrote:

Though richly instrumented -- it's loaded with string sections, xylophones, synthesizers and gourds -- "Funeral" sounds consistently tinny and remote, and always about 30 seconds away from total collapse.

Though it isn't immediately evident, underneath the rambling almost-melodies and frequently obscure lyrics lies a remarkable meditation on love and loss. And while the phrase "rewards repeat listenings" is usually rock critic code for "intensely dull album from which reasonable people will flee," this time we mean it: The more you listen to "Funeral," the more it makes sense, the more it seems like a carefully reasoned, lovingly crafted elegy instead of an occasionally baffling collection of noises made by willful Canadians.

I got my tickets to hear the "rambling almost-melodies" January 30th at the 9:30.