A couple of people have asked me if there are any rock bands with accordion players worth listening to. I usually point them to the darlings of the Montreal indie rock scene (although really, how “indie” can you be after an appearance not only as the musical guest, but also in a skit on Saturday Night Live?), the Arcade Fire. Their new album, Neon Bible, comes out tomorrow, and from their SNL performance and from listening to (ahem, cough) an advance copy, I can tell you that it sounds great.
In honour of the album’s release tomorrow, this week’s Song of the Week is one of their signature tunes, the catchy, stick-in-your-head, yell-“Hey!”-along-with-the-band tune No Cars Go. It first appeared on their eponymous debut EP and re-appears in a more lush, more heavily-produced version on Neon Bible. If the first version reminds you of Joy Division (with some wheezy pawn-shop accordion backup), the new version should remind you of its descendant band, New Order.
I’m definitely buying this album.
As with other songs of the week, these will evaporate after a week. Enjoy!
One reply on “Song of the Week: The Arcade Fire’s "No Cars Go" (2005/2007)”
Great song indeed, and from the songs I’ve heard, sounds like it’s going to be a great album. They’re definitely worth seeing live. If you can’t this year (like us Vancouverites, but at least I saw them last year), then listen to the live set they did recently in NYC: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7273765