Arcade Fire: Pink Elephant review — a strangely muted, unconvincing affair
If you have ever sung along to a wordless chant from a big rock band at a festival or stadium in a way that feels not only good but also as if it might somehow help humanity, you have Arcade Fire to thank.
With rousing Noughties anthems such as The Suburbs and Wake Up, the Canadian group managed to combine a literary sensibility and a suggestion of liberal progressiveness with tunes of Oasis-like mass appeal. Everyone from Coldplay to Mumford & Sons took note.
Now comes Arcade Fire's first album in three years and it is a strangely muted, unconvincing affair, no longer brimming with the sense of moral purpose and colossal ambition that made the band so compelling.
• Arcade Fire: WE review —
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