When I was a young boy...

Jus' chillin', y'know, in the suburbs

Most of you have probably heard the new Arcade Fire album by now, and most of you probably think it's brilliant. And I would completely agree with you, I'm not gonna shit on this sacred cow, who do you think I am, Vice? I do have one bone of contention though, and it's to do with the lyrics. The album's title may be The Suburbs, but this does not mean that every single song (almost literally) has to include the words "suburbs" or "sprawl", let alone countless relations such as "city", "town" and "street". The suburbs are populated, almost exclusively it seems, by "the kids", or on a few rarer occassions "the children". We all get that it's an album about suburbia and childhood, but across 16 songs those themes become stretched a little thin when the same few words are used to articulate them.

Here are the results of my pedantry, mentions of:
The suburbs/sprawl = 20
The kids/children = 16

Back in my day...

I realise this is a somewhat trivial matter, but it detracts from the listening if you find yourself noticing, and being irked by, these things. Maybe if they'd cut three or four songs, rather than the 16 they've opted for, these shortcomings may not have been so obvious.

Still, one of my favourite albums of the year so far, but it seems increasingly unlikely that Arcade Fire will ever quite top Funeral, and will always leave people, well me at least, a little disappointed.