With my lightning bolts a-glowin'

I seem to be raiding the archives a lot at the moment.

Hope you don’t mind.

It’s just that, aside from the things I’ve written about, there’s not a great deal of music exciting me at the moment. Nothing new anyway. Maybe I’m just not looking in the right places. Or maybe I’m keeping my ears to the wrong floors. I don’t know. I’m currently struggling to find some inspiration in the new Howling Bells and Metric albums but alas nothing as yet. Neither are particularly bad, they're just not that great either. The former is a bit dull and lacking in any memorable tunes, while the latter is a bit of a slow burner. Each listen seems to make it sound better but I’m still not entirely decided on it. Both of them seem to suffer from the same problem, in that neither is distinct enough to separate them from their previous works. At this stage, they both seem to be the sound of two bands treading water. Regurgitating the same sounds and covering familiar territory but not quite as effectively as before. Howling Bells in particular seem to be too focused on the distinctive vocals and melodies of Juanita Stein without bothering to surround them with much in the way of interest. Songs seem to merge into one and pass by pretty unremarkably. At least the Metric album seems to be offering more in the way of interest and tunes. They just seem to be taking a while to reveal themselves. Maybe after a few more listens, something more will come through. Until that happens or until something else comes along and excites me, I’ll stick with the archives. If that’s okay with you.

Today’s pick comes from Arcade Fire. A gentler, more organic take on one of the highlights from their debut album. One that maybe flies in the face of it's rousing title and is more in keeping with the lyrics. Gone is the joyful, celebratory, communal tone, replaced by a sombre tone. A doleful harmonica blows from time to time. The violin carries the repeated melody rather evocatively. While the guitar takes something of a back seat, holding the song together rather than propelling it forward. A great version only let down by a slightly ropey vocal from Win that sounds like he’s singing the morning after the night before.

Arcade Fire -wake up (live acoustic session version) original version available on 'Funeral'

mp3 / music / arcade fire