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The Arcade Fire are an indie rock band from Montreal, Canada. Its members are Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, Richard Parry, William Butler, Howard Bilerman, and Tim Kingsbury.
The Arcade Fire formed around the husband and wife duo of Butler and Chassagne. Having disbanded as recently as mid-2003, the current lineup solidified in late 2003/early 2004, when their first full-length album Funeral was recorded. The Arcade Fire are known for their enthralling live performances, as well as their use of a large number of musical instruments. The promise showed by the band in their live shows allowed them to land a record contract with Chapel Hill-based independent record label Merge Records.
The band employ a vast array of instruments - mainly guitar, drums, and bass guitar - but also piano, violin, viola, cello, xylophone, keyboard, accordian, and harp. With several able musicians, the Arcade Fire take most of their instrumental diversity on tour with them, with band members switching instrumental duties between songs. The number of instruments, along with a wide set of musical influences allows the band to craft rich and intricate indie rock songs.
Their first full-length album, Funeral, debuted in September of 2004 to glowing reviews[1] (http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/arcadefire/funeral/). Somberly titled because of the death of several family members during recording, the album is tinged with sadness. This is most evident on the songs "Une année sans lumière" ("A Year without Light") and "Haiti", Chassagne's bittersweet elegy to her lost homeland. However, it is a child-like exuberance rather than a funereal gloom that shines through on their debut, an exuberance that comes through with even more clarity onstage.
Discography
- Arcade Fire (EP) (self-released 2003)
- Funeral (Merge Records 2004)
- Neighborhood (Single) (Merge Records 2004)
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