Arcade Fire "Speaking in Tongues"

Last year we saw the Canadian band Arcade Fire breakthrough into the mainstream. Arcade Fire released their third album “The Suburbs” to great acclaim, and rightfully so; the album was packed with great songs that can be enjoyed by a wide audience. “The Suburbs” was not a very experimental album that scared away the general public. Rather it was an album that was very relatable, welcoming and to a certain extent, it was a safe album. And being safe by no means belittles the quality of the record; it was one that can still hold its own against their more avant-garde contemporaries. Popularity should not be used as a measuring stick for how good a band is; just because everyone enjoyed “The Suburbs” doesn’t mean that Arcade Fire has sold out.

The great success of “The Suburbs’ has allowed the band to re-release the record as a deluxe edition. The Deluxe edition of “The Suburbs” contains two new tracks titled “Speaking in Tongues” and “Culture War”. “Speaking In Tongues” features the great David Byrne of the Talking Heads. It is cool that the song shares the same name as the Talking Heads fifth album, not really sure if that was done as some kind of tribute. But anyway the song has the distinct Arcade Fire sound and definitely sounds like it came from the sessions that produced “The Suburbs”. 

“Speaking in Tongues” is a very lean song that has some jangly guitars along with some light and tight drumming. Some haunting keys are placed in the background giving a menacing sound to the track. David Byrne sings in the background towards the end of the song repeating “Oh, Speaking in Tongues”. I like the fact that he did not jump in and try to steal the show; instead he blended in the background and allowed the band to do what it does best. This is a good song, not incredible and I don’t think that it would fit well with the rest of the original album. I feel it would have been cooler if Arcade Fire just released the two songs as a standalone single. But then again, the deluxe edition might be much more profitable in terms of sales. 

Song of the day is "Speaking in Tongues"