Working for the church while your life falls apart, Singing hallelujah with the fear in your heart*

*Thank God for the Arcade Fire.

They weave bombastic and haunting melodies together with floating, grandiose lyrics mostly expressing pain and trouble.

This is the band that took over an abandoned church in Montreal to record the album Neon Bible, and the inspiration led them to weave in enormous organ movements with drums and elegant, sad, angry, fearful, and proud lyrics.

The US/China question

Since I got back from China, a lot of my American friends and family-- from my Pop-Pop to family friends-- have asked me some version of that same question... "So, the Chinese. They're beating us bad, aren't they? Do you think we have a chance?"