The Best Arcade Fire Songs

Album: Neon Bible

"No Cars Go," the fourth single released from 2007's Neon Bible, was actually a re-recorded version of a song that appeared, in slightly less anthemic form, on the band's self-released debut EP. As with much of the second album, the song is grandiose in scope, but reaches the sort of joyous, escapist climax that is suggested, but never fully realized throughout the rest of the album. On its own, "No Cars Go" is one of Neon Bible's most accessible, immediate songs, but in the narrative arc of the album, it takes on an even greater significance.

Album: The Suburbs

By the time The Suburbs came out in 2010, Arcade Fire had already successfully transitioned from indie darlings to hanging with Bruce Springsteen, and their sound started to transition too. While Funeral and Neon Bible sounded like albums to be played in churches, The Suburbs sounds more fit for a stadium. "Month of May" is the perfect example—a driving rock song with a touch of panic. It remains the most aggressive rock song Arcade Fire has ever written, and it's one of many risks the band has taken that paid off. One reason Arcade Fire has managed to stay interesting after all these years is because they've never been afraid to expand their palette. Sometimes that means experimentation and challenging the listener—other times, it just means making a straightforward rock song.

Album: Funeral

The slow march of "Rebellion (Lies)" is a beautiful thing. Instruments are layered one by one on top of the kick-drum as Win Butler comes in with his serene, soothing voice. Arcade Fire go for a big sound that incorporates some elements that wouldn't sound out of place in a pop song, but with the calm piano as its backbone, the result is gorgeously anthemic rather than cheesy.

Album: Neon Bible

After Funeral, a common criticism of Arcade Fire was that all their songs sounded the same. Their debut album was unified in style and aesthetics, and when Neon Bible came out, a lot of people expected a part two. "Keep The Car Running" was the song that let listeners know that this wouldn't be the case. It was the most uncomplicated rock song the band had written up to this point, and it proved that the band's genius didn't lie solely in the often challenging and elaborate nature of Funeral.

Album: Reflektor

James Murphy's presence on Reflektor can be felt throughout, but is most obvious on "Porno." At one point, at 1:30 in, Win Butler's voice even starts to sound like Murphy and you feel like you're listening to an LCD Soundsystem record. But in the six minutes of "Porno," Arcade Fire takes this song places that only Arcade Fire can go. Somewhere between an '80s love-lost ballad and a futuristic sad disco, "Porno" might be one of those songs that, in five more years, we look back on as a hint at what's to come from Arcade Fire.

Album: The Suburbs

Thematically, The Suburbs was Arcade Fire's strongest album. The death and loss of Funeral was powerful, but more subtle, multifaceted feelings were explored on the band's third album. The title track and album opener set the tone with a bouncing piano and lyrics that revealed what this album was all about.

You always seemed so sure

That one day we'd be fighting

In a suburban war

Your part of town against mine

I saw you standing on the opposite shore

But by the time the first bombs fell

We were already bored

We were already, already bored

Album: Funeral

On first listening to "Haiti," you would never think that Régine wrote it as an elegy of sorts to mourn her homeland. With the soothing sounds of waves, glistening instrumentation, and Régine's soft lullaby voice, there's a playfulness to the song, which is interesting considering some of the lyrics ("Guns can't kill what soldiers can't see," "Hear the soldiers angry yelling," "Haiti, never free"). This sort of balance seems to be a recurring theme in many of Arcade Fire's songs, making their songs that much more intriguing and complex.

Album: The Suburbs

On their third album, Arcade Fire approached the topic of suburbia in modern times like no other artist before. Capturing the difficult relationship between being young and living in the sprawl, the tone of this album was an uneasy nostalgia, that confusing place of simultaneously feeling the positive and the negative. "We Used To Wait" pinpoints that tone flawlessly.

It seems strange

How we used to wait for letters to arrive

But what's stranger still

Is how something so small can keep you alive

Album: Reflektor

"Afterlife" is the song that you were hoping for from Arcade Fire. On "Reflektor," the first single from the new album, James Murphy's presence in the production is almost a bit too prominent for some. Though Régine has expressed her wish to make a dance record, it's hard for fans to not still look for Arcade Fire's signature sound as heard in Funeral. And so, "Afterlife" is the perfect hybrid of said signature sound and Murphy's disco-tinged production. With the persistent, lively keyboards, Régine's goal is achieved, but without giving up their typical grand sound. That's certainly one way for an artist to embrace change without forgetting your roots.

Album: Neon Bible

"Intervention" is the song that sonically bridges the gap between "Neighborhood #1" and "We Used To Wait." The strings and layering are still present, but it's crisper and decorated with organs to fit the Neon Bible theme. The song builds like the best of Funeral, but the sounds are wound tightly, much like The Suburbs and Reflektor.

Album: Funeral

"Neighborhood #3" is the song that showed, more than any other from Funeral, where Arcade Fire could go next. The song references the North American ice storm of 1998—a storm that left Régine Chassagne's hometown of Montréal without power for a week—and it captures some of the panicked paranoia that The Suburbs would later expand on. While not as crisp or intentional as Arcade Fire's more recent recordings, this one shows how big the band always wanted to go: soaring strings, driving beats, layers of percussion and vocals, all merging to create an energy unique to a then-young band with lofty aspirations.

Album: Reflektor

Rumors were circulating about a pending Arcade Fire album, and as pieces of the puzzle started to come together (the graffiti, snippets of new music, mysterious videos, etc.), we realized that we were actually, finally getting a follow-up to 2010's The Suburbs. There was certainly pressure attached to whatever song Arcade Fire would release first, but the title track of Reflektor did not disappoint.

As Régine had hoped, "Reflektor" pointed to an upbeat dance album with its funky bassline and catchy chorus. It was the perfect first taste, and was an accurate reflection of what lay ahead.

Album: Funeral

"Crown of Love" starts off like a heartbreaking waltz, but under it all, there is something stirring. The chorus provides some release, but this song has a tenseness about it that builds toward that perfect pinnacle that comes a minute before the song's end. That peak is one of the high points from Arcade Fire's debut, and it was an early sign of one of the strengths that the band would learn to harness, perhaps more subtly in the future: those sharp and sudden moments of build-up and break-down. In any genre, those drastic points of energy shift are some of the most rewarding moments for listeners, and Arcade Fire continues to deliver.

Album: The Suburbs

After "The Suburbs" set the tone, "Ready To Start" came in and showed exactly how far this album could go. An uptempo beat and a touch of dissonance add an element of tension here as Win reflects on idealism versus reality in a world where things aren't always as they should be.

Album: Funeral

Like on "Haiti," Arcade Fire paired feverish, fast-paced instrumentation and catchy melodies with a darker subject matter on "Neighborhood #2 (Laika)." The lyrics tell a story about a young man named Alexander who "set out for a great adventure" for the good of the neighborhood, which eventually seems to end in his demise. Sonically, a sense of tension and dread is created through layering multiple instruments, rapid chord progression, and lyrics that are almost anxiously shouted as opposed to softly sung. It isn't the easiest song to digest at first listen, but if you spend some time with it, the nuances and complexities present will surface and make it hard to not appreciate "Neighborhood #2 (Laika)."

Album: Neon Bible

Despite its slow progression, "My Body is A Cage" is one of Arcade Fire's most dramatic songs thanks to the quiet heartbeat-like percussions and minor organ chords that act as the backbone of the song. The weariness in Win's vocals is exaggerated as the layers of instrumentation slowly build before the song breaks into a majestic climax. "My Body is A Cage" is a haunting, soulful, and most importantly, unabashedly honest song that spells out one's fears and insecurities.

Album: Funeral

As far as anthems go, "Wake Up" is one of the most emotional and affecting that any band from the 2000s has to offer. Win Butler sings with pained emotion as he pleads with his audience before the song suddenly takes an upbeat turn, as if an epiphany was reached, leaving listeners on a hopeful note. It was an incredibly powerful offering from the then-new collective, and a song that would end up being used everywhere from U2 concerts to Superbowl commercials.

Album: Reflektor

"Here Comes The Night Time" is kind of a mess. You can hear James Murphy's sharp disco, Arcade Fire's incorporation of Caribbean vibes and Haitian influence, the dark, gothic nature that dwells in Win Butler's gut, and the band's taste for the epic. It's a complicated mix of ideas that draws from several unrelated ideas, but it drives on confidently and it swirls beautifully, dancing between a state of panic and the excitement of a street party.

Album: The Suburbs

Sonically, "Sprawl II" is an outlier on The Suburbs. Incorporating a synth-heavy sound that leans towards disco, Régine takes on the role of lead singer here and the song feels brighter than anything else on the album. Still, the lyrics paint a romantically dreary picture that caps off The Suburbs perfectly.

They heard me singing and they told me to stop

Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock

These days my life, I feel it has no purpose

But late at night the feelings swim to the surface

'Cause on the surface the city lights shine

They're calling at me, come and find your kind

Sometimes I wonder if the World's so small

That we can never get away from the sprawl

Living in the sprawl

Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains

And there's no end in sight

I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights

Album: Funeral

"Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" is the first song on the first Arcade Fire album. Like so many Arcade Fire songs that would follow it in the coming decade, it left you with a strange feeling. Somehow, through a lens of paranoia, fear, and isolation, there was something comforting about it, something hopeful and triumphant. Maybe it was all those strings, all that building tension and those breaking moments that make living in a bubble sound like the complicated and beautiful mess that it really is. Maybe it was simply because Arcade Fire was talking about the little things we all felt, and they were finally making them feel important.

Then, we tried to name our babies

But we forgot all the names that,

The names we used to know

But sometimes,

We remember our bedrooms and our parent's bedrooms and the bedrooms of our friends

Then we think of our parents...

Well, whatever happened to them?!