Arcade Fire fizzles

For many hype bands that hit it big with a debut, expectations are often too high for a second release. And for a band apparently as talented as the Montreal-based Arcade Fire, expectations seemed nearly unattainable.

Primarily, this may be because Arcade Fire isn't just a hype band but a band that proved its bidding-war worth to Merge Records with perhaps one of the best albums in recent indie memory. Funeral, released in 2004, far surpassed all the Internet buildup with both critical and popular success. With Arcade Fire's newest release, Neon Bible, the seven-piece band - nine-piece in concert - seemed destined either to take over the indie-pop world or fall flat on its face like so many other hype bands before it.

Neon Bible does neither. It doesn't astonish but doesn't totally disappoint. Instead, the record feels more like a B-sides album. The sound quality on the self-produced work isn't all that astounding, and the instrumentals sound scrapped together, not nearly as tight as they were on Funeral. Most notably, however, Neon Bible lacks the power and energy of its predecessor. Funeral is rhythmic and commands attention, while Neon Bible floats by inconsequentially.

Yet the instrumentals are still one of Arcade Fire's strongest points. The multi-instrumentalists, highlighted by co-founder Regine Cassagne, combine to use an array of tools such as a pipe organ, guitar, piano, violin, viola, double bass, xylophone, keyboard, French horn, Hurdy Gurdy, accordion and harp on top of the usual trifecta of guitar, drums and bass guitar. A choir and a Hungarian orchestra is also reportedly featured as well, allowing Arcade Fire to take the modern baroque-pop genre - known for combining orchestral music with indie pop - to the highest level.

The album starts strong with the U.S. single "Black Mirror," followed by "Keep the Car Running," a feel-good, '80s-new-wave-style track that features a steadily paced melody and soaring, inspirational, almost entirely indistinguishable vocals from lead singer Win Butler.

After that, Neon Bible doesn't impress. The title track is a soft throwaway, and "Black Waves/Bad Vibrations" is a disjointed mess that falters while attempting to transition from a light song featuring female vocals to typically complex Arcade Fire. "Ocean of Noise" and "The Well & the Lighthouse" also disappoint, lacking the kind of energy and emotion Arcade Fire is known to offer.

Yet "Windowsill" and the U.K. single "No Cars Go" are small beacons of light toward the end of Neon Bible. "MTV, what have you done to me?/ Save my soul, set me free!/ Set me free! What have you done to me?/ I can't breathe, I can't see," Butler sings in "Windowsill."

Nevertheless, as a whole album, Neon Bible feels more upbeat and more optimistic toward life than Funeral. For instance, the melodies aren't as dark and dreary as on Arcade Fire's previous Funeral, even though Butler still speaks fluidly on moral tensions in Christianity.

"Been working for the church while your family dies/ You take what they give you/ You keep it inside," Butler sings with a hint of disdain on "Intervention."

Occasionally, Butler will even sing in French ("Un! Deux! Trois! Dis: Miror Noir"), and although the lyrics are more repetitive and the choruses fewer and farther between, the songs are still tap-and-clap-along-worthy.

It's hard to be tough on Arcade Fire. With such an incredible debut album and so much talent, the expectations for the band are understandably high. Although few tracks make an attempt to be remembered, Neon Bible is still good, primarily because even the weakest effort by Arcade Fire is better than what most bands are doing today. But while Neon Bible may flow together as an album, it still disappoints. We all know Arcade Fire can do so much better.

Contact reporter Adam Z. Winer at adamzwiner@gmail.com.