Mountains beyond mountains
Rock with Régine: New Arcade Fire video is heavy on interaction, light on WinButler and the band
If you're looking for conventional or Win Butler in Arcade Fire's latest music video, don't be surprised to find a startling lack of both.
Not that it's a bad thing. In fact, devotees will find it quite refreshing to see the ethereal-voiced Régine Chassagne, The Woodlands-reared Win's wife and band mate, dominating the camera lens on the band's fourth visual release from The Suburbs, "The Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)." The rest of the band is nowhere to be found in the faceless, lackluster suburban town where Régine spins, undulates and shimmies to her heart's delight.
But do you think Arcade Fire would stop there? Oh, hell no.
The quirky crew takes it one step further — and asks you to dance with Régine as well.
Alongside the evocative depiction of complacency in Video No. 1 for "The Sprawl II," a call for audience participation has also sounded — in Video No. 2 for "The Sprawl II."
This is where you come in.
No stranger to asking for your participation in its mind-bending videography, Arcade Fire wants you to wave your hands around in the air like you just don't care — literally. That's what you'll have to do to make Régine dance anyway.
Flail your arms, wiggle your hips, and watch Régine twirl along with you, if you can figure out what you're doing. In the band's newest stab at interactivity, the video camera on your own computer triggers . . . something, and between your movements and clicks of your mouse, you actually get to coordinate your own dance party with Arcade Fire's frontwoman.
So maybe it's not clear what actually happens. But the point is, something happens — because you make it happen. And we won't question it.
We'll just leave it to the indie mavens of Arcade Fire to put the ultimate fan experience right back in your hands (or on your desk or lap) yet again.
