Arcade Fire brings Canadian ethos to Hotung

For many of us, last week's political events have made now as good a time as any to embrace our neighbors to the north. Canada is back in - in a big way. Of course, there are those of us who have known that for years: Applejam, a Tufts group, brought feisty Montreal natives the Unicorns to Hotung last spring.

Tonight, Applejam continues its pro-Canada campaign by arming the stage at Hotung with yet another Montreal-based band: the Arcade Fire.

As their pyromaniac name might suggest, the Arcade Fire has blown up in the indie rock scene since their Sept. 14th debut "Funeral." The album was released in a whirlwind of enthusiasm, garnering glowing reviews from even the most snobbish hipster mags and creating a file-swapping frenzy on the Internet.

A spot at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York last month only added to the buzz surrounding the band that has been selling out dates up and down the Eastern Seaboard.

Such immediate celebrity is unusual for any musical group, let alone a septet whose members play a staggering array of instruments, including accordion, violin, organ and piano. Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler explained in an interview earlier this week that they were not completely taken aback by the reaction to "Funeral" because they "didn't have much of an expectation going into it."

"The experience of putting out a record was different than anything we had done before," Butler said. "It's a surprise no matter what happens."

Though the success of "Funeral" is a recent phenomenon, the band, which has been together for about three years, is building up a substantial fan base off of the strength of their live show.

It's hard to imagine how the group will be able to transfer their expansive sound (and extensive catalogue of instruments) from the studio to the stage, but Butler insists that the Arcade Fire's concerts are "even more bombastic than the record." This is a big claim to make; upon listening to "Funeral," it's hard to imagine the band getting any more dramatic.

The album is full of huge, complex tracks like "Wake Up" (one of the band's favorite songs to perform live, according to Butler), which opens with a sizzling guitar riff accented by heavy drum hits. Soon, harmonies that sound like an entire kindergarten class simultaneously exercising their lungs join the fray. The song builds and builds until Butler's triumphantly intoned vocals degenerate into him shrieking "I guess we'll just have to adjust!"

In the hands of other singers, Butler's periodic bursts into frantic scream-singing would be an annoying novelty, but Arcade Fire is adept enough to make them work. The same is true of their other bizarre elements, including accordion solos, lapses into singing in French, and over-the-top silly lyrics. "Neighborhood #2 (Laika)" has Butler and backup vocalist/drummer/synth-player R?©gine Chassagne gleefully yelling, "Our older brother! / Bit by a vampire! / For a year we caught his tears in a cup! / And now we're gonna make you drink it!"

Other tracks, like the four "Neighborhood" songs and "Haiti," about Chassagne's childhood home, are more poignant narratives about relationships and growth, proving that the Arcade Fire can mix their vampires and French interludes with a little tendresse.

Besides being innovative artists, the Arcade Fire are hard workers. Having played the same songs for about a year and a half, they're "getting a little bored with them," according to Butler. As a result, they've been writing new songs, one of which, "Burning Bridges," they'll be trying out tonight.

The spirit of camaraderie among the band members who are all friends (and, in Butler's and Chassagne's case, husband and wife) comes across in their performance, sometimes erupting in on-stage wrestling bouts. "They're fun to watch," said Applejam member junior David Buivid. Additionally, as one might expect in a band with art school roots, they have a strong visually pleasing aspect. Tonight's concert will also serve as a record release party for Tufts band The Main Drag, who, along with Akudama, will be opening for the Arcade Fire. In keeping with the border-crossing theme of the evening, copies of The Main Drag's CD "Simmer in Your Hotseat" are being express-shipped in from Canada to meet with the demand the band's appearance has generated.

Buivid explained that in addition to The Main Drag's impending release, they and Akudama were selected because their styles fit in well with that of Arcade Fire. Indeed, Akudama shares the same kind of atmospheric feel that is present on Arcade Fire songs like "Une Ann?©e Sans Lumi??re." The Main Drag's string sections would fit in nicely with the lilting violin of "In the Backseat."

Buivid could not stress enough the importance of getting to Hotung promptly at 8 p.m., as the Arcade Fire will no doubt draw a huge crowd after their publicity blitz of the last two months. As for expectations for the night's show, Butler refrained from making any predictions: "It's better when people don't expect anything. If people show up, they'll have a good time."