For the past month and a half I have been listening to The Suburbs in its entirety at least once a day. Either on the drive to work, the drive home, at the gym or at home…although I  listen to a lot of music in the course of the day to prepare for pleasure as well as to prepare for my radio show, The Suburbs is the only ALBUM I have been compelled to listen to on a daily basis for quite some time. If you follow this blog it’s probably because you occasionally listen to my radio show. Well, dear listener, this is the story of how I discovered Arcade Fire, got saved from a monotonous existence of listening to emo and basically became obsessed with discovering music in all its forms on this journey we call life.  

I was 20 when I first encountered Arcade Fire. It was the fall of 2004 and I was on my way out for a night of fun on the town with my friend Crza. Nothing was special about that night—I can’t even remember where it was we were going. Was it Spaceland? Hotel Fig? K-Town? No clue. All I can remember is that we were driving down Figueroa in someone’s car and then it happened. Crza, sitting up front in the passenger seat turned around and said, “There’s this new band, Arcade Fire, have you heard of them?” As I was going through an emo phase the only bands I was really into at the time were on labels like Vagrant, Fearless, or Drive Thru, so Arcade Fire hadn’t made it onto my radar. After replying no, Crza continued, “The songs are unbelievable! Arcade Fire’s going to blow your mind.” And then Neighborhood #3 (power out) started playing on the car stereo, volume turned up full blast and I was on fire, with Arcade Fire. We were young! Not even college graduates! We had boundless energy. We were confused. Positive. Worried. Excited! Jaded. And we were incredibly hopeful. Everything I was feeling, each and every one of those varied emotions was reflected in the songs. I was dancing, tapping my toes, singing at the top of my lungs. No matter how heavy the subject matter or the situation, Arcade Fire managed to shine a light and lift me up, and before I knew it ‘Funeral’ had become the soundtrack to my life.  

I was 24 when Arcade Fire released ‘Neon Bible’. I listened to the album in its entirety for the first time on a cold, gray, rainy day—and as with Funeral, I was in a car, on my way to the Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair. Tracks like ‘Keep the Car Running’, ‘The Well and The Lighthouse’, ‘My Body is a Cage’ and ‘No Cars Go’ served as reason enough for me to go back and listen to the album over and over again over the years.  

Now 27, Arcade Fire is with me yet again. It is such an odd sensation to realize that you have been listening to a band your age for almost a decade. All my life I have cherished music made by bands older than me, which has meant that I have never been right there in the moment sharing the same phases of life with a band. And so listening to ‘The Suburbs’ as my twenties come to a close is comforting and sublimely thrilling. 

When Win Butler sings, “Sometimes I can’t believe it…I’m Moving Past the Feeling” I know and feel in my heart exactly what he’s talking about. We have come a long way since the days of ‘Funeral’ and I can’t escape the reality that I’m growing up. As I approach my 30s I’m feeling a little less hopeful, a bit less naïve and a lot more experienced. I used to believe myself to be worldly and wise beyond my years. Looking back, I realize that most of my knowledge came from books or from careful observation, not from first hand experience. Today I could write a few books of my own. We aren’t “the kids” anymore…we’re becoming the “Modern Man”. 

Perhaps it’s Regine’s singing in her ethereal, almost child-like sweet voice on ‘Sprawl II: Mountains Beyond Mountains’ that best summarizes the transition from carefree kid to responsible adult. “You heard me singing and you told me to stop/ quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock”. As we are growing up the choices we make become increasingly important. We can become prisoners of our choices. And so the nostalgia for childhood sets in “If I could have it back, all the time that we wasted…you know I would love to waste it again and again and again.” 

For the first time I have a band that I can proudly call the voice of my generation. Judging by their history I would guess that their next album will be out in 3 years or so. By that time I’ll be a member of the 30s club and based on this lyric- “I want a daughter when I’m still young, I want to hold her hand and show her some beauty before all this damage is done, but if it’s too much to ask then send me a son”-  Win & Regine will probably be going through the trials of parenting, meditating on the “kids” of yesteryear, having kids of their own. No matter the subject, I look forward to being in step with Arcade Fire over the years. I wonder if we’ll always be so in sync. If so, then Arcade Fire will surely be the band of my generation. No doubt about it.