Arcade Fire EP

Arcade Fire’s debut release — this 7-song, 33-minute self-titled EP — already displays many of the elements that would make them a genuine musical sensation in the new century. Released in 2003 and re-released in 2005 after the unexpected success of their 2004 debut album, Funeral, Arcade Fire is a walk (or run) through a carnival funhouse of pop music. The vocals chase down the neuroses stalking Talking Heads’ David Byrne, while the music flirts with roller-rink keyboards and the anthemic echo canyons of ‘80s U2. Yet, for all the traceable influences, there’s a defiant, solitary sound unearthed in the uneasy joy of “Old Flame” and the discordant X-like harmonies of “I’m Sleeping In a Submarine.” Hints of Prefab Sprout at their most spirited channels through the six-minute accordion-accompanied “No Cars Go” where the male-female vocal face-off comes to a convincing head. “The Woodlands National Anthem” chirps like a river nymph leading a frat party. “My Heart Is An Apple” is what happens when Neil Young is confused with David Byrne, things drift to the bottom and build their way back to the surface.