Album Review: ‘Pink Elephant’ by Arcade Fire

GRAMMY-winning Montreal-based band Arcade Fire released their newest record, Pink Elephant on May 15. The album serves as a reminder that the era of great Canadian indie music ended in the early 2010s, and that all good things must come to an end.

Fresh off Will Butler’s departure, and his brother and lead singer, Win Butler’s being accused of sexual abuse, Arcade Fire’s new record sends them further into a direction opposite of the one that made them successful. The 2020s haven’t been good to the Canadian music veterans. 

Pink Elephant begins with a three-minute intro track of only synths. With the record running 42 minutes, it easily could have run for only 39. The track isn’t anything near interesting, and feels drawn out. Despite this, the second track on the record, the album-titled track, “Pink Elephant,” is a pleasant surprise. 

The band’s past two records have been far from the alternative/indie rock they’ve been known for. But the album-titled track sounds like how one would imagine they would develop if they’d only listened to their most loved works like The Suburbs, which won Album of the Year at the 2010 GRAMMYs. Win Butler’s soft voice feels real and emotional, just as it once consistently did. 

The third track, “Year of the Snake,” is Regine Chassagne’s first appearance on the record. This track features the staple tangling of Butler and Chassagne’s voices that the band is known for. The instrumental on this track is one of the best on the record, and while the song, about transition and uneasy change wouldn’t be assumed to be uplifting, it somehow is. The circling synths and sounds can easily put you in a trance.

“Circle of Trust” sees the band use Greek mythology, as they have before, to make a dance tune. The track strays from previous in it being less emotional, and if anything, moderately unoriginal. 

The fifth and sixth tracks, “Alien Nation” and “Beyond Salvation” respectively, are the most skippable of the project. Butler’s studio lo-fi vocals on “Alien Nation” don’t fit, Chassagne’s ad libs are, at best, corny, and the instrumentation isn’t anything to write home about either. This is their most aggressive track, and it doesn’t fit. “Beyond Salvation” is just a minute and a half long interlude that we could have done without. 

“Ride or Die” grew on me. The uninspired rhyming and topic being of an actress and man working an office job is actually pretty good after enough listens. The sensitive guitar and Butler’s skillful voice pulls this track together to be something reminiscent of their GRAMMY-nominated 2007 release, Neon Bible. While it’s good for what it is, for those who are fans of their best works, it’s because of nostalgia. 

“I Love Her Shadow” is by far the most danceable track on the album, and it’s amazing. The instrumentation after Butler’s raw and choked vocals leaves a feeling that only 2000s indie sleaze could leave. The chorus being “breaking into heaven tonight” is suspiciously close to commodity pop, but the track as a whole makes it more than excusable. 

After “She Cries Diamond Rain,” another minute and a half long interlude, is the final track, “Stuck in my Head.” The final track is a strong, strong finish. The final track feels like the Vancouver Olympics and flat Tim Hortons’ lids. It feels like the late 2000s, when the band was at their peak. 

Overall, while the album could have been a bit shorter, it’s not bad, but it’s not great either. Pink Elephant‘s sound isn’t what the band is known for, and lyrically, the album struggles, but its strong moments lift it up just enough to make it something I’ll be coming back to.