Everything Now Explained

Everything Now
Type:studio
Artist:Arcade Fire
Cover:Everything Now Arcade Fire.jpg
Caption:Cover art for digital versions
Recorded:September 2016 – April 2017
Studio:
  • Boombox, New Orleans
  • Sonovox, Montreal
  • Gang, Paris
Genre:Dance-rock[1] [2]
Length:47:11
Label:
Producer:
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Everything Now is the fifth studio album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire, released on July 28, 2017, through Sonovox Records (physical release),[3] Columbia Records and Rough Trade Records. It was produced by Arcade Fire, alongside Thomas Bangalter of the electronic-house duo Daft Punk and Steve Mackey, the bassist of the band Pulp. Additionally, Markus Dravs, one of Arcade Fire's frequent collaborators, co-produced two tracks, and he, Geoff Barrow of Portishead, and Eric Heigle each provided additional production on one track.[4]

The album is a departure from the sound of Arcade Fire's previous records, influenced as it is by synth-pop, dance-rock, and other derivatives of electronic music, and has been called more "digestible"[5] than their earlier output. It was promoted by an elaborate marketing campaign, as well as five singles: the title track, "Creature Comfort", "Signs of Life", "Electric Blue", and "Put Your Money on Me".

Upon release, Everything Now proved polarizing with critics—some reviews said it was a misstep for the band, but several publications named it one of the best albums of the year. It reached the top of the charts in numerous countries, including Arcade Fire's home country of Canada, the US, and the UK.

Promotion

In May 2017, Arcade Fire performed six new songs at an intimate secret show in Montreal.[6] Later that month, a Twitter account designed to look like a Russian spambot started publishing clues pertaining to a new Arcade Fire album.[7]

On May 31, the band released the lead single "Everything Now" on 12" vinyl, selling it at a merchandise stall at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona, which they headlined.[8] A day later, a mysterious live stream called "Live From Death Valley" was launched,[9] and the band released a music video for "Everything Now"[10] that appeared to have been shot in Death Valley, California.

On June 3, anagrams of song titles were published on Twitter.[11]

On June 16, the band posted the music video for "Creature Comfort" on its YouTube page. It was marketed with a Facebook post that was purportedly written by a disgruntled "Everything Now Corp" employee, in which he railed against the band's refusal to engage in corporate promotion of its new album.[12]

Similar satirical marketing done in promotion of the album stemmed from a fictional agreement the band was in: a "360 degree agreement" proposed by Everything Now Corp, whereby the band created multiple fake online articles related to events happening within the company and band. These include, but are not limited to, the band providing a "premature premature evaluation" of Everything Now days before release as a spoof of online music reviews, a review of a fake installment in the rhythm video game series Rock Band titled Arcade Fire: Rock Band, and fake advertisements for products based on the names of songs from Everything Now. A collection of promotional articles created by the band are included on the side of a fake website that leads to numerous other fake websites.[13]

Infinite Content tour

To promote the album, the band embarked on the Infinite Content tour across Europe and North and South America.[14] Preceding the album's release, the band went on a near two-month-long tour of Europe, headlining festivals and their own shows, which included appearances at some smaller venues. They extended the tour into 2018 to cover more venues in Europe and North America, following the Arena leg of the North American tour, the band played an additional leg in 2018 at smaller venues.

Artwork

The front cover of the album features a picture of an art installation in Death Valley created by the artist JR for the band that consisted of a billboard depicting a mountain range placed in front of the actual mountain range depicted on the billboard, which comments on the blurry line between artifice and reality in the modern world; the album's title appears on a sign below the billboard. The back cover features a man riding a horse, a camp fire, and an arcade machine on fire (a visual pun on the band's name). The entire scene was shot in many different lighting and weather conditions, and two variants of the artwork, labelled "Day" and "Night", were created for CD pressings, while twenty variants of the artwork were created for vinyl pressings, each with the title on the front cover in a different language and a unique photograph of the mountain-and-billboard-scene. The shrink wrap around the album had a radial dotted-line pattern on the front, suggesting the sky in the photograph was printed on the inside of a large dome structure, and a tracklist on the back, which was disguised as the logos of fictional companies that financed the album.

As a continuation of the commercialization theme, the booklet for the album was formatted to resemble a flyer for a supermarket, with the song durations appearing like dollar amounts.

Reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Everything Now received an average score of 66 based on 39 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews"; some critics praised the album as one of the year's best, while others stated it was a serious misstep for the band.

Jeremy Winograd of Slant Magazine claimed that "The result is by far Arcade Fire's most upbeat and easily digestible album to date."[5] Barry Nicolson of NME rated the album five stars out of five and wrote that "The Canadian art-rockers are bigger, bolder and more fearful of the future than ever". Will Hermes of Rolling Stone praised the album for its lyrical content, writing that it is "treacherous territory, but the band navigates it bravely, especially when it turns the critical lens on itself."

In a mixed review for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis wrote that the "desire to experiment musically isn't enough to make Everything Now a bad album – there are songs worth hearing and genuinely thrilling music here – but rather a flawed one." Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote that "The title song finds a breezy balance between earnestness and exhilaration. Elsewhere, that balance falters, and Everything Now becomes a slighter album than its predecessors."[15] Equally negative, Brendan Frank of Pretty Much Amazing wrote that "For the first time in their career, Arcade Fire haven’t made a record; they've manufactured one."[16] Jeremy Larson of Pitchfork wrote that "Conceptually, the songs don't transcend their social critique, they succumb to it." Robert Christgau wrote in 2018 that he had only "laid off" the album because he did not "feel obliged to nail down every possible Honorable Mention"; he mused it might deserve a "One-Star Honorable Mention" (which means "a worthy effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well like"[17]), but said he did not "consider it [his] obligation to history to make that call."[18]

Accolades

PublicationAccoladeYearRank
Drowned in SoundFavourite Albums of 2017
NMENMEs Albums of the Year 2017

Commercial performance

Everything Now debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart in the US with 100,000 album-equivalent units, of which 94,000 were pure album sales.[19] It is Arcade Fire's third US number-one album.[19]

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes[3] and Tidal.[20] Arcade Fire

Production

Additional musicians

Design

Charts

Year-end charts

Chart (2017)Position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[21] 22
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[22] 102
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[23] 22
French Albums (SNEP)[24] 185
UK Albums (OCC)[25] 93
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[26] 38

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Feldberg. Isaac. An overload from Arcade Fire. The Boston Globe. July 27, 2017. July 28, 2017. July 27, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170727060727/https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2017/07/26/overload-from-arcade-fire/BkW7jZBLcKUYHyHR7JFB0L/story.html. live.
  2. Web site: Arcade Fire 'Everything Now' Review: A Disco-Tinted Mess of an Album . Schonfeld . Zach . July 28, 2017 . . July 30, 2017 . July 31, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170731230910/http://www.newsweek.com/arcade-fire-everything-now-creature-comfort-review-win-butler-641288 . live .
  3. Everything Now. Arcade Fire. 2017. album liner notes. Sonovox Records, Columbia Records.
  4. Web site: Arcade Fire Announce New Album Everything Now . . Jazz . Monroe . June 1, 2017 . June 1, 2017 . June 1, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170601235229/http://pitchfork.com/news/73787-arcade-fire-announce-new-album-everything-now/ . live .
  5. Web site: Winograd. Jeremy. Arcade Fire: Everything Now. Slant Magazine. July 27, 2017. July 28, 2017. July 30, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170730120431/http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/arcade-fire-everything-now. live.
  6. Web site: Arcade Fire Debut Six New Songs at Secret Montreal Show . Noah . Yoo . Pitchfork . May 15, 2017 . June 3, 2017 . June 3, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170603095111/http://pitchfork.com/news/73533-arcade-fire-debut-six-new-songs-at-secret-montreal-show/ . live .
  7. Web site: Listen to Arcade Fire's New Song "Everything Now" . Pitchfork . Amy . Phillips . May 31, 2017 . June 3, 2017 . June 3, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170603095055/http://pitchfork.com/news/61370-listen-to-arcade-fires-new-song-everything-now/ . live .
  8. Web site: Arcade Fire release surprise new vinyl single 'Everything Now' . . Luke Morgan . Britton . May 31, 2017 . June 3, 2017 . June 3, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170603002634/http://www.nme.com/news/music/arcade-fire-everything-now-2082037 . live .
  9. Web site: Arcade Fire Launch Mysterious "Live From Death Valley" Stream . Pitchfork . Jazz . Monroe . June 1, 2017 . June 3, 2017 . June 3, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170603230952/http://pitchfork.com/news/73906-arcade-fire-launch-mysterious-live-from-death-valley-stream/ . live .
  10. Web site: Arcade Fire premiere new single "Everything Now", co-produced by Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter — listen . . Alex . Young . June 1, 2017 . June 3, 2017 . June 1, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170601203851/https://consequenceofsound.net/2017/06/arcade-fire-premiere-new-single-everything-now-co-produced-by-daft-punks-thomas-bangalter-listen/ . live .
  11. Web site: Arcade Fire 'Everything Now' tracklist revealed using anagrams? . . Samantha . Maine . June 3, 2017 . June 3, 2017 . June 3, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170603182740/http://www.nme.com/news/music/arcade-fire-everything-now-tracklist-2083503 . live .
  12. News: Arcade Fire – Business Drama or Viral Marketing?. June 22, 2017. en-US. https://web.archive.org/web/20170627065431/http://www.ticketnews.com/arcade-fire-business-drama-or-viral-marketing/. June 27, 2017. dead.
  13. Web site: Premature Premature Evaluation: Arcade Fire Everything Now . . Jeremy . Young . July 20, 2017 . July 24, 2017 . May 3, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200503124448/https://www.stereoyum.com/072217/arcade-fire-premature-evaluation-everything-now/review/ . live .
  14. Web site: Arcade Fire Announce Infinite Content Tour . Pitchfork . Amy . Phillips . June 1, 2017 . June 3, 2017 . June 3, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170603001736/http://pitchfork.com/news/71609-arcade-fire-announce-infinite-content-tour/ . live .
  15. Web site: Pareles. Jon. Jon Pareles. On Arcade Fire's 'Everything Now,' Pop Can Reach Deep and Be a Distraction. The New York Times. July 26, 2017. July 27, 2017. July 27, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170727050931/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/26/arts/music/arcade-fire-everything-now-review.html. live.
  16. Web site: Frank. Brendan. Review: Arcade Fire, Everything Now. July 27, 2017. July 26, 2017. July 28, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170728203845/https://prettymuchamazing.com/reviews/arcade-fire-everything-now. live.
  17. Web site: Robert Christgau: CG 90s: Key to Icons. www.robertchristgau.com. January 13, 2020. April 1, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210401060851/http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-cg90/grades-90s.php. live.
  18. Web site: Robert Christgau: Xgau Sez. www.robertchristgau.com. January 13, 2020. October 1, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221001172405/https://www.robertchristgau.com/xgausez.php?d=2018-07-24. live.
  19. Arcade Fire's 'Everything Now' Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart. Billboard. Caulfield. Keith. August 6, 2017. August 7, 2017. August 16, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170816112411/http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7890100/arcade-fire-everything-now-debuts-no-1-billboard-200-albums-chart. live.
  20. Web site: Everything Now / Arcade Fire. Tidal. August 23, 2017. August 23, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170823121428/https://listen.tidal.com/track/74636067. live.
  21. Web site: Jaaroverzichten Albums 2017. Ultratop. December 21, 2017. December 22, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171222053748/http://www.ultratop.be/nl/annual.asp?year=2017&cat=a. live.
  22. Web site: Rapports Annuels Albums 2017. Ultratop. December 21, 2017. December 22, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171222053722/http://www.ultratop.be/fr/annual.asp?year=2017&cat=a. live.
  23. Top Canadian Albums – Year-End 2017. Billboard. December 15, 2017. December 24, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171224115202/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2017/top-canadian-albums. live.
  24. Web site: Top de l'année Top Albums 2017. SNEP. fr. January 10, 2021. August 15, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180815173224/http://www.snepmusique.com/tops-annuel/top-album-megafusion-annuel/?ye=2017. live.
  25. Web site: End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2017. Official Charts Company. January 10, 2018. April 3, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150403152500/http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/end-of-year-artist-albums-chart/. live.
  26. Top Rock Albums – Year-End 2017. Billboard. November 6, 2020. February 14, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180214003518/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2017/top-rock-albums. live.
  27. Web site: Jaaroverzichten 2018. Ultratop. December 21, 2018. December 21, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181221041314/https://www.ultratop.be/nl/annual.asp?year=2018&cat=a. live.

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