Funeral

Fronted by the husband-and-wife team of Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, the Arcade Fire's emotional debut -- rendered even more poignant by the dedications to recently departed family members contained in its liner notes -- is brave, empowering, and dusted with something that many of the indie rock genre's more contrived acts desperately lack: an element of real danger. Funeral's mourners -- specifically Butler and Chassagne -- inhabit the same post-apocalyptic world as London Suede's Dog Man Star; they are broken, beaten, and ferociously romantic, reveling in the brutal beauty of their surroundings like a heathen Adam & Eve.

A1 Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)
A2 Neighbourhood #2 (Laïka)
A3 Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)
A4 Une Année Sans Lumière
A5 Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)
B1 Crown Of Love
B2 Wake Up
B3 Haïti
B4 Rebellion (Lies)
B5 In The Backseat