The album's lyrical content is inspired by band members Win and William Butler's upbringing in The Woodlands, Texas, a suburb of Houston. According to Win Butler, the album "is neither a love letter to, nor an indictment of, the suburbs – it's a letter from the suburbs". The album was recorded in Win Butler and Régine Chassagne's residence in Montreal, with some parts being recorded at the band's studio in Quebec and in New York City. Win Butler describes the overall sound of The Suburbs as "a mix of Depeche Mode and Neil Young", stating that he wanted the album to sound like "the bands that I heard when I was very young, and wondered what those crazy noises were".
The Suburbs is an essential, maybe cause it's an exaltation of nostalgia that celebrates the quiet tribulations and thrills of a childhood lived in a slower time, a forgoten time perhaps. There was something for sure, on this new album, just like the previous Arcade Fire releases, Funeral (2004) and Neon Bible (2007), The Suburbs is indeed a full concept album. Singer and songwriter Win Butler had been living in Montreal for nearly a decade after relocating from the Houston suburbs for college. And life was quickly taking shape. In less than five years, he’d co-founded Arcade Fire with his best friend, Josh Deu; met and married Régine Chassagne, who would become the band’s other principal songwriter; and enjoyed unexpected commercial success. The more he slipped into this new life, the more he felt compelled to revisit his youth before it fell completely out of sight.
The chorus of album opener and title track describes the fear "The Suburbs" also introduces the idea of the suburban war, a theme that simmers throughout the album in various facets. So much of the suburban adolescence is predicated on escape. We were intoxicated by the grit and glamor of The City, where real life seemed to happen. Until then, we just had to endure the wait, restless souls on the brink of adventure, culture and magic. But, looking back on our lives as adults, we realize how finite time is and lament how quickly it all goes by.
Although the album stemmed from Butler's desire to reconnect with his time in Texas, the sixteen tracks were minted in the usual Arcade Fire way, with Win and Régine crafting rough sketches, which they then passed along to the rest of the band—multi-instrumentalists (and Win’s younger brother) Will Butler, Tim Kingsbury and Richard Reed Parry, violinist Sarah Neufeld, drummer Jeremy Gara—often enlisting still other contributors until the collective agreed the songs were fully realized. The fun fact here was this: Between the recording of Neon Bible and The Suburbs, Will studied electronic music. Its influence here not only gives the album a broader stylistic range than previous works, but also suits its subject, with a synthy '80s sound that in itself evokes a certain wistfulness.
The Suburbs also succeeds in doing so lyrically. The album is filled with incisive phrasings that demand attention. Perhaps, the greatest testament to its bardic prowess is the soaring, epic "Suburban War," that brought it all to heart-shattering climax that I honestly don’t always have the strength to bear. It’s that good, and if you’ve never heard it, I implore you to play it now.
Featuring the anthemic "We Used to Wait," the video prompts you to input your childhood address and then takes you there via Google Earth footage. Also you had the vibrant "Ready To Start" which was for me the jewel of the crown, another highlight "The Suburbs" with a video directed by Spike Jonze. The video, filmed in Austin, Texas, follows a group of teenagers living in the suburbs, and features cameos by Win Butler and Sarah Neufeld as police officers. The music video is composed of excerpts from Jonze's short film, Scenes from the Suburbs, which debuted at the Berlin International Film Festival 2011, and has a running time of 30 minutes.
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