Content And Connection: Arcade Fire On 'Everything Now'
Like many bands, Arcade Fire started out small: an indie band from Montreal, founded in 2001 by Win Butler and former member Josh Deu. Three years later, the band's debut album Funeral propelled it to fame: With its singalong anthems and soaring choruses, that album became the soundtrack of a moment. Fast forward to 2011: Arcade Fire's third album, The Suburbs, beat out pop juggernauts Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Lady Antebellum to win the Grammy for Album of the Year.
In those years, Arcade Fire filled stadiums and won critical acclaim with songs that felt urgent and sincere. But when the band's fifth album, Everything Now, was released this July, some fans and listeners felt things had taken a turn for the detached and ironic. (One review called the album "joyless" and "riddled with cliche.")
Brothers Win and Will Butler of Arcade Fire joined 's Ari Shapiro to talk about their childhoods, how they manage touring with family and how — despite what some might think — is really a "direct and heartfelt" album about people and connection. Read on for an edited transcript and hear an abridged version of the conversation at the audio link.
