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http://www.rollingstone.com/assets/images/album_review/c29a84c6a9bfe87c571768aece38d05f48f18c76.jpg Funeral

Arcade Fire

Funeral

EMI Music Distribution
Rolling Stone: star rating
Community: star rating
5 4 0
December 9, 2004

The liner notes to this exceptional debut from the Arcade Fire refer to the recent deaths of several family members — which explains why Funeral aches with elegiac intensity. Chilly imagery from this indie-rock band's native Montreal dominates the album: Characters stumble through the snow, shivering, to meet between their houses while their "parents are crying." "Crown of Love" builds from a mournful waltz to a bustle of choppy violin strokes as singer Win Butler pleads, "If you still want me/Please forgive me." Amid all the loss and breakups, the Arcade Fire manage to also be strangely joyous: Songs such as "Wake Up," which features a choir of voices and a fierce rhythmic stomp, burst with catharsis. The band could have gone for a less direct title, but even then it would have been crystal clear: Funeral captures the agony and even ecstasy of surviving death all around you.

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