Neon Bible

Neon Bible
Arcade Fire studio album
Publication (s)	March 2007
Label (s)	City slang
Format (s)	CD , LP
Genre (s)	Indie rock
Title (number)	11
running time	47:03
production	Arcade Fire
Studio (s)	Petite Église ( Farnham , Québec ), New York City , Budapest and London
chronology Funeral (2005) Neon Bible The Suburbs (2010)
Single releases January 22, 2007 Black Mirror March 19, 2007 Keep the car running May 21, 2007 intervention August 6, 2007 No Cars Go

The Arcade Fire at a concert in 2007 - the artwork by Neon Bible as the stage background

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Neon Bible   DE 11 03/16/2007 (3 weeks)   AT 25th 03/16/2007 (4 weeks)   CH 23 03/18/2007 (9 weeks)   UK 2 03/17/2007 (18 weeks)   US 2 03/24/2007 (19 weeks)   CA 1 03/24/2007 (4 weeks)

Singles

Keep The Car Running   UK 56 03/17/2007 (4 weeks)   CA 41 06/02/2007 (14 weeks)

Neon Bible is the second album by the Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire . It was released on March 5, 2007 in Europe and a day later in the USA. It reached number 2 on the British and US album charts; in Canada and Ireland even number 1.

Most of the album was recorded in the Petite Église , a former church in Farnham , Canada , which the band bought and converted into a recording studio.

production

After the release of Funeral (2004), which was recorded in an attic studio called Hotel2Tango, Arcade Fire decided that a permanent location was needed. After their tour, the band bought the Petite Église in Farnham, Quebec . The Petite Église, which was used as a café at the time of purchase, was once a church and a Masonic temple . After the church renovation was completed, the band recorded much of the album in the second half of 2006. Michael Pärt produced additional recordings in Budapest , including the Budapest Film Orchestra and a military male choir.

After the band had produced most of the album themselves, they decided to let an outside person do the mixing. Tracks were sent to several well-known mixers / producers to experiment with. After deciding that they liked Nick Launay's ideas best, the band invited him to their studio to continue working on the songs. For a month Launay worked with the engineer and co-producer of the album, Marcus Strauss, on mixing the individual songs. The band regularly assessed their progress. In an interview with HitQuarters, Launay described the mixing process as "a playful thing".

Reviews

Neon Bible received, as well as the previous album Funeral , which brought the band international fame, excellent reviews. For example, Q magazine gave the album full marks and also named it Album of the Year 2007 . Allmusic gave four out of five points, Pitchfork Media 8.4 out of 10. In the NME and Rolling Stone , the album received fourth place on the album of the year 2007 list. The album also received a good rating of 87% from Metacritic .

The album also received the Juno Awards for Best Alternative Album of the Year and CD / DVD Artwork Design of the Year ; the cover was designed by Tracy Maurice and François Miron .

Track list

1. Black Mirror - 4:13
2. Keep the Car Running - 3:29
3. Neon Bible - 2:16
4. Intervention - 4:19
5. Black Wave / Bad Vibrations - 3:57
6. Ocean of Noise - 4:53
7. The Well and the Lighthouse - 3:56
8. (Antichrist Television Blues) - 5:10
9. Windowsill - 4:16
10. No Cars Go - 5:43
11. My Body Is a Cage - 4:47

Singles

Black Mirror was released for download on January 22, 2007. The first sound carrier was the single Keep the Car Running in Great Britain on March 19, 2007 and in the USA on May 8, 2007. The song reached number 56 on the British single charts. This was followed by Intervention (UK: May 21, 2007 and USA: July 10, 2007) and No Cars Go (August 6, 2007), which, however, did not reach any top chart positions.

Artwork

The artwork for the album is a photo of a two meter long neon sign that the band commissioned during the tour. In the photo used for the cover, an illuminated Bible is caught in the middle of the flicker. The Rolling Stone called the artwork of one of the five best of the year. Tracy Maurice and François Miron won the Juno Prize for the best CD / DVD artwork of the year. Front man Win Butler stated in an interview that the album title came from his particular interest in the image and not in John Kennedy Toole's novel The Neon Bible .

Trivia

• "My Body is a Cage" was featured in a TV commercial for the film The Strange Case of Benjamin Button .
• Peter Gabriel's cover of "My Body is a Cage" was one of the episodes of Dr. House , the video game Assassin's Creed III and the trailer for John Carter .
• The name of the dystopian television series Black Mirror is partly inspired by the title of the same name from Neon Bible. The term "black mirror" refers to the observer's dark reflection displayed on a television or smartphone screen.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ACharts
2. ^ ^{A b} Inside the Church of Arcade Fire. Retrieved May 24, 2019 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b} A&R, Record Label / Company, Music Publishing, Artist Manager and Music Industry Directory. Retrieved May 24, 2019 . 
4. ^ Allmusic review
5. ^ Metacritic
6. ↑ Nationalpost.com
7. ↑ ArcadeFireTube: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - TV spot (feat. My Body Is A Cage by Arcade Fire). January 14, 2009, accessed May 24, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Jessica, McKay: My Body Is A Cage - House MD. January 21, 2013, accessed May 24, 2019 . 
9. ↑ Sophie Harris, Sophie Harris: Arcade Fire's 'Neon Bible': 10 Things You Didn't Know. In: Rolling Stone. March 5, 2017. Retrieved May 24, 2019 (American English).