Record of the Month

I figured I'd do a monthly 'what I'm listening to' kind of thing. This could be viewed as a lame placeholder kind of post. And probably it is. But it's my blog! So there!    

My patience with Arcade Fire has worn thin. Three of their last four albums (including today's selection) have just been bad. 

Sorry, there is no other way to say it. Granted, 'bad' is one man's opinion, but that man is me. I hold some weight around here. 

Pink Elephant came out a year ago. It seems a lot more recent than that, but in fairness, I played it once and could never go back to it - it was that bad. 

Open Your Heart of Die Trying - Pink Elephant's "companion" piece - was released almost one year to the day of the latter. 

I don't really follow Arcade Fire news, so if this album was widely publicized release, I didn't know about it until about two weeks before the release date. Silly me got my hopes up that, phew, maybe they've corrected their ways. 

They have not. 

Well........let me rephrase. This disk is not for me. And I'm not sure who it is for. And yes, I ended that in a preposition. Sue me. 

On Pink Elephant, I wrote about the droning and ambient music on some of the tunes. Well, Open Your Heart, it's on all of the tunes. Is IS all of the tunes. 

Open Your Heart of Die Trying is instrumental. Not a vocal to be had. But it's music that would be in a trying to be hip spa, while you got a massage or your anal bleaching done. It's both relaxing and not at the same time. 

exclaim!*'# website voted Open Your Heart the 'worst release for Record Store Day 2026.  Ouch. But they hit the nail on the head with this portion of their review: 

This kind of project would normally be cool, since an ambient reimagining of a recent album is exactly the kind of quirky release Record Store Day is made for. The snag, however, is that the album in question is Arcade Fire's Pink Elephant — an album nobody likes, and I'm fairly sure barely anyone has even listened to.

They end some of their sentences in prepositions as well. 

Pitchfork's review is even harsher. 

For full disclosure, I did not purchase this disk, though I did listen to the entire thing online. Once. It was all that was needed. 

I'm not sure where this leaves the band. The core - Win Butler and Régine Chassagne - are dissolving their 20+ year marriage after Butler's #metoo bullshit. While they say they vow to keep on with the band, multiple affairs and two shitty albums might be the death of them.