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In The Backseat // Funeral (2004)
All round musical architect and wife of lead singer Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, has the final say on what is still believed to be Arcade Fire’s masterpiece, Funeral. The final song on the album is a six-minute, heart-breaking look at the emotions of Régine after suffering the loss of her mother, Alice, and various other members of her family all in the space of just twelve months.
The song starts slow and reflective and moves into an angry swelling of emotion with Régine crying out “Alice died/in the night” at the beginning of the chorus whilst a guitar reverberates a heavy-set of chords. The heart breaking imagery given by the lyric “My family tree’s/losing all its leaves” brings home the true grief behind the making of Funeral. Finally, the song enters a slow, methodical fade out followed by a sustained period of silence, remembering those family members who were lost in the winter of 2004.
If you are after an Arcade Fire song to lift your spirits, this isn’t the one, but it can still provide you with the true Arcade Fire grit and passion that we are now accustomed to.