Performer Notes

Personnel: Markia Anthony Shaw, Richard Reed Parry, Owen Pallett, Sarah Neufeld (strings); Stuart Bogie, Colin Stetson (saxophone); Willinson Duprate, Wilkenson Magloire, Wichemond Thelus, Verrieux Zile, Dieuveut Marc Thelus, Baptiste Jean Nazaire (percussion).
Recording information: Breakglass Studios; Dockside Studio, Louisiana; Golden Radio; Sonovox Studios, Montr?al; Studio Pierre Marchand, Montr?al; Trident Castle, Jamaica.
Photographers: Korey Richey; Caroline Robert.
After stunning the mainstream pop machine into a state of huffy, new school e-disbelief by beating out Eminem, Lady Antebellum, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry for the 2011 Album of the year Grammy, Arcade Fire seemed poised for a U2-style international coup, but the Suburbs, despite its stadium-ready sonic grandiosity, was far too homespun and idiosyncratic to infect the masses in the same way as the Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby. Reflektor, the collective's much anticipated fourth long-player and first double-album, moves the group even further from pop culture sanctification with a seismic 13-track set that guts the building but leaves the roof intact. Going big was never going to be a problem, especially for a band so well versed in the art of anthem husbandry, and they're still capable of shaking the rafters, as evidenced by the cool and circuitous, Roxy Music-forged, David Bowie-assisted title cut, the lush, Regine Chassagne-led "It's Never Over (Oh Orpheus)," and the impossibly dense and meaty "We Exist." ~ James Christopher Monger

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (pp.67-68) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "[A] thrilling act of risk and renewal by a band with established commercial appeal..."

Entertainment Weekly (p.99) - "'Joan of Arc' honors the hipster saint's 'vision' with a sultry, rhythm-first drive that flowers prettily." -- Grade: B

Billboard - "[I]t contains plenty of moments (most often in its uptempo, dynamic first half) that sound ready to breathe life into the middling state of commercial rock in 2013."

Q (Magazine) (pp.100-101) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "REFLEKTOR is profoundly '80s in spirit, from the strolling 'Billie Jean' bass of 'We Exist' to the electro-heavy second disc..."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.82) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Regine Chassagne's vocals, part Debbie Harry, part Bilinda Butcher, are especially important to these songs, lending a sinister sweetness to the liquid Rapture of the title track..."

Paste (magazine) - "'We Exist' marries a subdued disco groove to psychedelic squiggles, building to a crescendo of symphonic bombast..."