"Reflektor" - Arcade Fire
The self-appointed connoisseurs of music have either heralded "Reflektor," Arcade Fire's latest single, as AF's poppiest, danciest piece yet, or have gingerly laid its vinyl body on the turntable, and in between lyrics, have pronounced it "good" and not worth disregarding, but still a darker twin (a reflektion, if you will) of Funeral, Neon Bible, and the ever-popular, Grammy-winning, Suburbs.
After my first listen, after my second, I was about ready to take the track off my imaginary turntable and shelve it besides Arcade Fire's 2003 EP, something I keep around because I love Arcade Fire so much, not because I actually listen to "My Heart is an Apple" all that often. Then, I gave "Reflektor" a third listen, and something began to stand out to me. So I played it a fourth time, a fifth, a sixth, and then I knew I had to write about it.
So here I am, on September 9, writing about a song that made its worldwide debut today. Writing about it right now, because I think you should know it isn't just the poppy, dance-y, shiny piece some would have you believe.
It's genius.
Not in the same way Funeral or The Suburbs were genius-- although it will make sense that the creators of those albums would have the intellectual capacity to come up with something so metaphorically beautiful and raw as Reflektor.
Now, before I tell you why I've changed my mind about Reflektor, I want you to watch the music video I've posted above and give a good listen to the lyrics as you do so.
"We fell in love, alone on a stage" is maybe a bit of a red herring-- how many times have we heard that? The thing is, this song isn't about falling in love "when I was nineteen," although that's another line early on. As the song builds, it's apparent that this love, no matter how seemingly cliche, is something real.
The talk about heaven, interspersed between anecdotes of young love early on in the song, becomes more and more eager, turns into a plea: "If this is heaven, I don't know what it's for. If I can't find you there, I don't care."
The search for "The Connector," which only yields a dim "Reflektor" becomes more than a catchy adage. To me, this is symbolic of the search for God, for a higher power that can infuse meaning and connection into our otherwise fleeting existences on Earth. The agnostic, even the devout believers, may sympathize with Win Butler, when he asks, "Will I see you on the other side? We've all got things to hide."
As one of the believers myself, I know that I have plenty to hide. If faith wasn't so powerful a thing, the sea of doubt would have washed the last lights of my faith away long ago. Sometimes I hide the fact that no matter how deep I search scriptures and immerse myself in the realm of prayer, I feel myself running into Reflektors, only guessing at whether or not there is a Connector.
Now that I am married to a man I love very much, I too wonder if I will see him on the other side. Will this lifetime be the only one we spend together? I desperately hope it isn't.
You see, before I fell in love with Jared, I didn't know you could love another person so deeply. I want to believe that the way I feel for Jared is a sign that we'll be together always, even after we die. I can't imagine living my life without him, and I certainly wouldn't want to live in any afterlife without him. Nor would I want our lives to end without the promise of a new chapter, rendering our love some earthly illusion, reflektion.
"I thought I found a way to enter, but it's just a Reflektor. I thought I found the Connector, but it's just a Reflektor." "Thought you were praying to the Resurrector, turns out it was just a Reflektor."
If we found a Connector, would we be able to tell it apart from a Reflektor?
I love this. And you :)
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