Bears and Bullets: Bears and Bullets Top Ten Albums of the Decade

#3: Funeral - Arcade Fire

Arcade Fire's Funeral gets the unquestioned crown of best debut album of the decade (some Is This It fans will argue). It's a sadly enriching and deeply uplifting ten track salute to childhood memories and the idea of family. More so than anything else, however, is the length and size of Funeral; not in number of tracks, of course, but how far each song ultimately soars higher and higher above most other music today.

Not simply remarked for the quality of the record on its own, Funeral was reprisal of indie music in general. The strings, accordions and xylophones, all which were complimentary pieces before, sounded in the fore-front, making and breaking each waining interlude. In a sense, the record displaced a notion that the most simple of textures were in fact the best. Funeral was a score -- a finely tuned rhythm section that felt like a cold heart beating beneath Canadian frost. And that's mostly in part to the diverse and depth of the band's effort, finding a finite niche for each of every instrument to play its part and still lead the way.

Pitchfork is completely correct to assume that Funeral was a changing point in indie music. It was a ten track companion that flirted with the idea of a concept album, but wasn't because it was just too big, too intelligent and too realistic. At the end of "In the Backseat," Regina Chassagne sings "Alice died/in the night/I've been learning to drive/My whole life," settling an end to the harrowing and ultimately tragic album. That's how far it comes; Funeral can make the world sound more beautiful than ever and still haunt you in the end. And it still does.

Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)