Day 13 (April 1): Arcade Fire - Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)

Album|Funeral|Arcade Fire by BastianMinaj on DeviantArtHappy April. No, I can't bring myself to do an April Fool's post today. I think that we all deserve a break from that. I was at least tempted to post something stupid, like Waluigi's character theme or something, but I realised that would be a desperation move for a blog that is still meant to be at its full creative powers or something. Plenty of time for shitposting in the future.

Instead, we're starting a fresh new month (of horrors) with a song of the day that, to me, is all about beginnings. "Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)" is the first track on Arcade Fire's first album, Funeral, and it just feels like it's full of possibilities. Yeah, the resolutely Canadian Arcade Fire would eventually be subsumed into American pop culture eventually. Yeah, they would go off the boil just a little.

But, in five beautiful minutes here, they are a band that could be anything and do anything, at least within the realms of what white 2000s indie bands could do, which is to say a limited degree of things. Funeral on the whole is great, and Arcade Fire's next two albums rock, but I don't know if anything beats the excitement of hearing this track as the first thing. Imagine being in 2004 and hearing this! I was five, so I can't, but that's one for you 90s kids out there.

Happy April, fools.

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