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10.0
129778
10.0 |
Gigwise
An album full of love
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10.0
129794
10.0 |
The Independent
Rebooting the euphoria of their 2004 debut, Funeral, WE is a big old blast of an album. One destined to lift the spirit, inflate the soul and get fans dancing giddily through the carnage of 2022
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9.0
129834
9.0 |
DIY
These songs have a real and sincere heart
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9.0
129802
9.0 |
XS Noize
They might not be able to fix the world’s woes, but again, Arcade Fire provides the soundtrack to reaching for something better
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9.0
129637
9.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
All the facets of Arcade Fire’s 20-year career synchronise on WE
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8.3
129768
8.3 |
Paste Magazine
Win Butler and Régine Chassagne’s songwriting is the most heartfelt it’s been in over a decade
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8.0
129792
8.0 |
The Irish Times
We feels like a return to what they do best: writing epic, emotive songs that connect with audiences, whatever their size. It’s good to have them back
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8.0
129811
8.0 |
The Arts Desk
The first side is emotive and dark, tinged with isolation and fear; the latter half brighter and celebratory
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8.0
129679
8.0 |
musicOMH
Crystallises just what makes these Canadians so great: when they hit the mark, there’s nobody to touch them
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8.0
129715
8.0 |
Mojo
WE is Arcade fire's best album since 2010's The Suburbs. By circling back, they've once again moving forward. Print edition only
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8.0
129716
8.0 |
Uncut
Arcade Fire have delivered a triumphant restatement of purpose that 2022 probably doesn’t deserve but is brightened by all the same. Print edition only
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8.0
129798
8.0 |
Evening Standard
No better soundtrack for the apocalypse
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8.0
129861
8.0 |
The Music
They remain a band that deserves our attention
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8.0
129862
8.0 |
NME
Partly inspired by the 1924 novel We – itself an influence on George Orwell's 1984 – the band tackle modern malaise and find reasons to be cheerful
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8.0
129864
8.0 |
Northern Transmissions
A meditation on the modern age that is so earnest but doesn’t feel cheesy. It all feels very real and still weirdly hopeful
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8.0
129891
8.0 |
The Observer
Beauty, bleakness and euphoria collide on this record of two halves
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8.0
129916
8.0 |
Dork
Arcade Fire are back, and they’re brilliant
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8.0
129854
8.0 |
God Is In The TV
Arcade Fire sixth album WE, is split into two parts that express polar opposite approaches on how to deal with the current world crises – not just Covid but climate change et al
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7.5
129763
7.5 |
Under The Radar
Bound together with a rather intoxicating blend of intimacy, inconsistency, and immediacy, this is the sound of a band coming home
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7.2
129858
7.2 |
Spectrum Culture
This sixth album finds Arcade Fire at a crossroads, and it doesn’t give a real indication of what path they want to follow
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7.0
129767
7.0 |
Exclaim
There's nothing on WE the band haven't already done before, but it's synthesized in a way that seems calibrated for this particular moment, ebbing and flowing between grimly accepting our terrifying reality and embracing the silliness of hope at a time like this
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7.0
129753
7.0 |
Loud And Quiet
WE reminds listeners what made this group the indie giants that they are and even makes a case that for all our irony-fuelled nihilism, a little earnestness, and perhaps even hope, aren’t always such a bad thing
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7.0
129760
7.0 |
Pitchfork
The band’s sixth album pivots back to a more melodic, sincere, and effortful style, attempting once again to find a genuine connection
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7.0
129813
7.0 |
Slant Magazine
Economical hooks and ironic distance have been supplanted by a return to grandiose multi-part suites and painful sincerity
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6.9
129800
6.9 |
Beats Per Minute
It’s uneven, uncertain, even uncharismatic in some places. It’s retreading old ground and shouting at clouds, but also genuine and at times beautiful in its crystalline synth-pop nostalgia
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6.0
129847
6.0 |
Rolling Stone
Their first album in in five years sounds like a band circling the wagons
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6.0
130127
6.0 |
No Ripcord
There’s lots to love but WE can’t match the power of the band’s first four records. Still, Arcade Fire’s returned rejuvenated after time in a cynical wilderness, ready to sing and dance against apathy. This album is worth it for that fact alone
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6.0
130139
6.0 |
Record Collector
WE closes with the title track, an appealingly tentative acoustic lament if not quite the full-blooded climax an album of modern horrors and hopes might require
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6.0
129775
6.0 |
The Guardian
After a weak 2017 predecessor, the band’s new album returns to well-trodden territory. Its peevish lyrics are irritating, but it should avert a slide down festival bills
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5.2
129880
5.2 |
Sputnik Music (staff)
WE asserts Arcade Fire’s dominance over their amorphous influencesphere as decisively as it asserts that they have very little of interest or import to say about pretty much anything
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5.0
129845
5.0 |
PopMatters
Somehow, Arcade Fire have created an album that’s one half an exciting return to form and the other a continuation of their worst impulses with WE
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4.0
129823
4.0 |
The FT
The Canadian indie-rockers strive for the heights in their latest release but struggle to get airborne
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4.0
129731
4.0 |
The Skinny
It’s not the end of the empire, and probably not the end of Arcade Fire, but it sounds like it should be
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3.0
129846
3.0 |
The Quietus
JR Moores considers self-immolation listening to the new Arcade Fire record
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