Arcade FIre is big, right?
Well, for a long time, the Canadian Indie outfit with roots in Ottawa and Montreal just never lit me up (why isn't the world falling in love, I thought, with the Weakerthans instead?) I thought Arcade Fire's first two records were, well, good but not excellent. I had yet to be moved.
But ever since hearing “Ready To Start” about a month ago (it was released, I believe in August), I keep coming back to it on the iPod day after day after day after day. I can't get enough of it. It's outstanding and has now prompted me to go back to the band's earlier music.
I must say: This is how I ended up loving R.E.M. Despite the fact that all my pals at my college radio station CFRU loved them, I never really got into R.E.M. until I heard “So. Central Rain“. Similarly all my college friends were raving about The Smiths for two years before Johnny Marr's guitar work in “How Soon Is Now” pulled me into the Smiths tent forever and ever.
So it may be with Arcade Fire and “Ready To Start” …