The band’s trademark fashion consists in wearing rather formal attire during live events and a use of orchestral instruments. When asked about the rumour that the band's name refers to a fire in an arcade, Win Butler replied: "It's not a rumour, it's based on a story that someone told me. It's not an actual event, but one that I took to be real. I would say that it's probably something that the kid made up, but at the time I believed him." Win Butler and his brother Will grew up in Texas.
Band formation
Arcade Fire formed around the husband and wife duo of Win Butler and Régine Chassagne. Joining together as recently as mid-2003, the current line-up solidified in late 2003/early 2004, when their first full-length album Funeral was recorded. Before this an eponymous EP (often referred to by fans as the Us Kids Know EP) had been sold at early shows. The EP was subsequently remastered and given a full release once the band started becoming more prominent. Arcade Fire are known for their enthralling live performances, as well as its use of a large number of musical instruments. In addition to mainstays guitar, drums, and bass guitar, members play piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, xylophone, keyboard, French horn, accordion, and harp. With several able musicians, the band take most of their instrumental diversity on tour and members switch instrumental duties throughout their shows. The number of instruments, along with a wide set of musical influences has provided a substantial number of resources on which to draw from during the recording process. The promise showed by the band in its live shows allowed it to land a record contract with Chapel Hill-based independent record label Merge Records.
Funeral
Without a major label backing, the success of the band and the album Funeral has been acclaimed as an Internet phenomenon. After a 9.7 rating from Pitchfork, Merge Records sold out their inventory of Funeral and it became the label's first album in the Billboard 200 chart. An early tip from David Bowie was also influential. The band booked small clubs for their 2004 tour but growing interest forced many venue changes, far beyond the band's expectations, and continued internationally into mid-2005. The MTV2 2005 Review hosted by Zane Lowe named Funeral Album of the Year, and NME named Funeral Number 2 in their list of 2005's best albums and "Rebellion (Lies)" the best track. By November 2005, Funeral had gone gold in both Canada and the UK and sold in excess of half a million copies worldwide, a phenomenal number for an independent release with minimal television or radio exposure. It has also surpassed Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over The Sea as the biggest selling Merge Records album to date.
Arcade Fire were featured on the April 4, 2005 cover of Time Magazine's Canadian edition, and hailed as a band who "helped put Canadian music on the world map". On April 2, 2006, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, they received the Juno Award for Songwriters Of The Year for three songs from Funeral: "Wake Up", "Rebellion (Lies)" and "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)". Arcade Fire then planned to begin recording a follow up to Funeral in the winter of 2005-2006, having bought an old church forty minutes from central Montreal which they converted into a studio.
Neon Bible
In mid-December 2006 www.neonbible.com went live containing nothing more than a phone number, 1-866-NEONBIBLE where people can listen to a new track called Intervention. Built in the style of customer support lines, the number has other features including a contest and a chance to talk to a live person at a specific time each week.
Then in January 2007, they finally announced that the new album Neon Bible would be released March 5th in UK, March 6th in US. The announcement was made with a video in the album's website, with guitarist Richard Reed Parry using a gramophone and a paper mask of Parry's own face, and sitting on Win Butler´s chair. After the announcement of the album´s release, the website was updated with a streaming version of "Black Mirror", new art and a few phone messages sounding like the band´s members.
The Suburbs
The band released their third album "The Suburbs" on August 2, 2010 in the UK and August 3, 2010 in the United States. It debuted at #1 in both countries. On February 13, 2011, the album won Album of the Year at the 53rd Grammy Awards.
Arcade Fire recorded a song for The Hunger Games soundtrack (The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond), called "Abraham's Daughter". The song is featured in the movie's end credits. The soundtrack was released on March 20, 2012, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200. It sold more than 175,000 copies in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan. It's the first theatrical film soundtrack to top the chart since Michael Jackson's "This Is It" debuted at No. 1 on the list. It is also only the 16th soundtrack to debut at No. 1 in the history of the Billboard 200 chart (those soundtracks include film, television, and straight-to-video efforts).
Reflektor
Arcade Fire and Mercury Records confirmed that they would release a fourth album in late 2013. In December 2012, the band's manager Scott Rodger confirmed that Arcade Fire was in the studio working with James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem. The official Arcade Fire pre-order website sets the release date on October 28, 2013. The band announced on January 18, 2013 that they were selling the church they had been using as a studio due to a collapsed roof. Throughout 2013, the band worked on the album in several different recording studios - including Murphy's DFA Records studio in New York. On June 22, 2013, Rolling Stone reported that new material from the album would be released on September 9, 2013.
Everything Now
Arcade Fire's first announced its fifth record, "Everything Now," on May 31, 2017 when it released the record's title track and lead single. The album's release came July 27, 2017. In the weeks leading up to the album's release, the band released three additional lead singles, "Creature Comfort," "Signs of Life," and "Electric Blue." Upon the week of its release, "Everything Now" reached #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming the band's third-straight and third overall #1 record.
WE
On October 21, 2020, Butler was interviewed for the Broken Record podcast, where he commented about Arcade Fire's sixth album. The band had been writing for a year before the COVID-19 lockdown. In March 2022, fans received postcards marked with the band's logo; the postcards included the note "We missed you", musical notations, as well as an image of an eye with the word "Unsubscribe" written below. Those same images began to appear in signage around London as well as on the band's social media pages, indicating the earliest signs of a new album. On March 14, the band announced a new song titled "The Lightning I, II" would be released on March 17.
On March 17, 2022, Arcade Fire announced that the album would be titled WE and be released on May 6, 2022. Later that week, Will Butler announced he had amicably left the band in 2021 shortly after the completion of WE.
Following the release of WE on May 6, 2022, Arcade Fire announced the group’s first world tour since 2018, starting in August 2022. They again appeared on Saturday Night Live on May 7, 2022, playing "Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)", "The Lightning I, II", and "End of The Empire II" over the closing credits.
Black Mirror
Arcade Fire Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
After waking from a nightmare
No moon, no pale reflection
Black mirror, black mirror
Shot by a security camera
You can't watch your own image
And also look yourself in the eye
Black mirror, black mirror, black mirror
I know a time is coming
All words will lose their meaning
Please show me something that isn't mine
But mine is the only kind that I relate to
Le mirroir casse
The mirror casts mon reflet partout
Black mirror, black mirror, black mirror
The black mirror knows no reflection
It knows not pride or vanity
It cares not about your dreams
It cares not for your pyramid schemes
Their names are never spoken
The curse is never broken
The curse is never broken
Un, deux, trois, dis mirroir noir
Black mirror
Un, deux, trois, dis mirroir noir
Black mirror
Black mirror
Black Mirror
Mirror, mirror on the wall
Show me where them bombs will fall
Mirror, mirror on the wall
Show me where them bombs will fall
Black mirror
Black mirror
Black mirror
Black mirror
Black mirror
Black mirror
Black mirror
The song "Black Mirror" by Arcade Fire begins with the singer walking down to the ocean after waking from a nightmare. The lyrics describe an existential crisis where they struggle with the concept of identity and their place in the world. The mention of a "black mirror" could be interpreted as a metaphor for technology, specifically a security camera, where the singer feels like they are being watched but they can't watch themselves. This creates a sense of detachment from reality and their own self-image. The repetition of the phrase "black mirror" emphasizes the feeling of being trapped and the loss of control over their own lives.
As the song progresses, the singer begins to question the meaning of words and reality itself. They plead for something that isn't "theirs" as they struggle to relate to anything or anyone around them. The lines "The black mirror knows no reflection / It knows not pride or vanity / It cares not about your dreams / It cares not for your pyramid schemes" signify the detachment from society and how the singer feels they don't fit in. The song ends with a repetition of the phrase "Mirror, mirror on the wall / Show me where them bombs will fall" indicating that even with a wish for a peaceful world, the reality is much more grim.
Overall, "Black Mirror" is a beautiful and haunting depiction of the human experience in a world filled with surveillance and detachment from reality.
Line by Line Meaning
I walk down to the ocean
I go to the sea.
After waking from a nightmare
After a bad dream.
No moon, no pale reflection
The moon is not visible, so there is no reflection.
Black mirror, black mirror
A security camera is watching me.
Shot by a security camera
I am being recorded by a security camera.
You can't watch your own image
I cannot see my own reflection, only the one captured by the camera.
And also look yourself in the eye
I cannot look into my own eyes through the camera's recording.
I know a time is coming
I believe a time is approaching.
All words will lose their meaning
Words will become meaningless and lose their significance.
Please show me something that isn't mine
I want to see something that I am not familiar with.
But mine is the only kind that I relate to
However, I can only connect with experiences that I am familiar with.
Le mirroir casse
The broken mirror.
The mirror casts mon reflet partout
The mirror reflects my image everywhere.
The black mirror knows no reflection
The camera does not have a reflection.
It knows not pride or vanity
It does not have pride or care about vanity.
It cares not about your dreams
It does not care about your dreams or aspirations.
It cares not for your pyramid schemes
It does not care about your plans or schemes.
Their names are never spoken
The camera's operators are not called out by name.
The curse is never broken
The curse of surveillance is never lifted.
Un, deux, trois, dis mirroir noir
One, two, three, say black mirror.
Mirror, mirror on the wall
An allusion to Snow White.
Show me where them bombs will fall
Where will the bombs fall?
Black mirror
An allusion to the dark reflection of modern society.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Jeremy Gara, Regine Chassagne, Richard R Parry, Tim Kingsbury, William Butler, Win Butler
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@bellatrixlestrange5808
[Verse 1]
I will walk down to the ocean
After waking from a nightmare
No moon, no pale reflection
Black mirror, black mirror
[Verse 2]
Shot by a security camera
You can't watch your own image
And also look yourself in the eye
Black mirror, black mirror, black mirror
[Verse 3]
I know when the time is coming
All the words will lose their meaning
Please show me something that isn’t mine
But mine is the only kind that I relate to
Le miroir casse
The mirror casts mon reflet partout
Black mirror, black mirror, black mirror
[Verse 4]
Black mirror knows no reflection, knows not pride or vanity
Cares not about your dreams, cares not for your pyramid schemes
Their names are never spoken
The curse is never broken, the curse is never broken
Un, deux, trois, dit miroir noir
Black mirror
@marcei7580
I walk down to the ocean
After waking from a nightmare
No moon, no pale reflection
Black mirror, black mirror
Shot by a security camera
You can't watch your own image
And also look yourself in the eye
Black mirror, black mirror, black mirror
I know a time is coming
All words will lose their meaning
Please show me something that isn't mine
But mine is the only kind that I relate to
Le mirroir casse
The mirror casts mon reflet partout
Black mirror, black mirror, black mirror
The black mirror knows no reflection
It knows not pride or vanity
It cares not about your dreams
It cares not for your pyramid schemes
Their names are never spoken
The curse is never broken
The curse is never broken
Un! Deux! Trois! Dis: mirroir noir!
Black mirror!
Un! Deux! Trois! Dis: mirroir noir!
Black mirror!
Black mirror
Black Mirror
Mirror, mirror on the wall
Show me where them bombs will fall
Mirror, mirror on the wall
Show me where them bombs will fall
Black mirror!
Black mirror!
Black mirror!
Black mirror!
Black mirror!
Black mirror!
Black mirror!
@sergiocabezuela9713
This song truly never ages for me. It sounds new with every listen. I am still obsessed with it from the time it was released. Such a beautiful dark track from an amazing album.
@alexandrabimini
The 9th Symphony of Indie Rock.
@ThomasJakobMusic
One of the best albums in music history.
@MsCygnusX1
This song and My Body is a Cage are phenomenal on this album. Neon Bible and Funeral are transcendent works.
@bennymutant
It's not letting me like ur comment, but I totally agree
@medicineboy86
Not to mention The Suburbs and Reflektor. Both great in their own right. I actually think The Suburbs is my favorite album (and song) of all time.
@obi-wankenobi8878
Liam Forester, I'm with you the Suburbs is my favorite album of all time
@leonthesleepy
@@obi-wankenobi8878 I like all of them except Everything Now
@jtarantula3390
Add OCEAN OF NOISE
@CWill10000
Her voice at 2:41 is so perfectly haunting