Spike Jonze directed the video to Arcade Fire’s single The Suburbs and, on its release earlier this year, any precise plot was hard to fathom. We now know that the clip was in fact a précis for this full-length version (well, 28 minutes) but, to be honest, that doesn’t exactly make it easier to grasp.
As a way of getting fans to re-buy The Suburbs, it’s a cracker though. Packaged with a 60-page book, and the album itself (plus two bonus tracks), the film is at the very least pretty to look at. A group of teenagers amble around a US town, alternating between the childish behaviour you’d expect of them (play-fighting, kissing, BMXing) to unexplained, brutal acts of violence.
Broadly speaking, it’s set in a town at war with itself. Armed troops patrol the suburbs, and the themes mainman Win Butler explores on the album are brought into high definition.
It’s certainly diverting – possibly a shrewd marketing move in an age when buying CDs is less appealing than before – but also a sublime collaboration. Speaking of which, the David Byrne backing vocals on new track Speaking In Tongues are – to use a cliché – worth the entry price alone.
