Arcade Fire (EP)
Arcade Fire (known unofficially as Us Kids Know[1]) is an extended play (EP) by the indie rock band Arcade Fire. The EP was recorded in Maine, United States, during the summer of 2002.[2] Arcade Fire was remastered and repackaged for its 2005 re-release by Merge Records for fans after they had "grown obsessed" with the band's debut album, Funeral. It was initially released in 2003 by the band at their shows and website, and then re-released in 2005 by Merge. It received positive reviews from music critics, although some of them noted that it was inferior to their debut album Funeral. Lyrical themes of Arcade Fire consist of parents, suburbia, new love, dread, and drama. The EP's third track, "No Cars Go", was re-recorded for Arcade Fire's second full-length album, Neon Bible. No Cars Go has been played at the majority of live shows since the EP release. Arcade Fire have also played other songs from the EP, live on every tour since, however, it has become less frequent. On their recent tours, they notably played "Headlights Look Like Diamonds" and "Vampire/Forest Fire".
Background and recording[edit]
In the summer of 2002, Arcade Fire briefly went to Maine to record the EP, since frontman Win Butler's parents had recently moved there after his father got a land conservatory job.[2] The following year, the band self-released the EP on their website and at their shows.[1] Arcade Fire then met with record labels like Alien8, Absolutely Kosher, and Merge Records to release their debut album Funeral. The band eventually signed with Merge since frontman Win Butler liked bands such as Magnetic Fields and Neutral Milk Hotel who had previously signed with them. Butler said he felt really comfortable with Merge, but denied that there was an "indie label bidding war".[3] In 2004, Merge started to release the EP through their website, "in an attempt to sate the demand of an audience that had quickly grown obsessed with" Funeral, according to Pitchfork. The next year, Merge remastered and repackaged the EP for stores.[1]
Composition[edit]
The opening track "Old Flame" has a "simple" melody and has a lyrical theme of new love.[4] Scott Reid of Stylus Magazine opined that the song had the band Mercury Rev as an influence, saying it "is very nearly plagiaristic of half of Deserter's Songs".[5] The following track "I'm Sleeping in a Submarine" also has the "joy" of new love, and it features a chorus consisting of the phrase "A cage is a cage, is a cage, is a cage!"[4] "No Cars Go", the third track on the EP, was described by Reid as "easily a demo outtake on [the Broken Social Scene album] You Forgot It in People ".[5] Allmusic wrote that the song, "with its driving accordion melody line and unified shouts, sounds like the blueprint for Funeral's "Rebellion (Lies)"."[4] It later appeared reworked on Arcade Fire's second album, Neon Bible.[6]
Butler's wife Régine Chassagne sings on the song "The Woodland National Anthem", and her vocals on the song can be compared to those of Björk.[4] It is a bluesy song[7] with "campfire percussion". The next track "My Heart is an Apple" features Butler's "soulful" vocals[1] and Chassagne's "childish" vocals.[7] Reid wrote that "Headlights Look Like Diamonds" "pretty much lifts the entire verse from [the Broken Social Scene song] "Almost Crimes (Radio Kills Remix)"."[5] It features layers of sound continuously being added to the song while Butler sings. At the climax of the song, drums and multi-layered vocals come in, in what Sputnikmusic described as "frenzied chaos". The final track, "Vampire/Forest Fire" contains lyrical themes of "parents, suburbia, apathy, and pure, unadulterated emotion."[7] In the song, Butler's voice progressively grows louder while keyboards play during its chorus.[1] Pitchfork said the following of the songs: "while they infuse the songs with a dread and drama that reaches an adolescent intensity and bleeds into every track, they never retreat to a romanticized notion of childhood."[1]
The following people were involved in the making of Arcade Fire:[9]