Arcade Fire: Funeral

(Herald rating: * * * *)

Coming from New Zealand you can't help but hear the uncanny hints of Split Enz on this debut album from Arcade Fire. Not only does main singer Win Butler occasionally sound like a highly flown Tim Finn, but on a song like Neighborhood 3 (Power Out) there's an Enz-style wonkiness to the music that's all wrapped up in a cracking good tune. It's remarkable music, if not initially a little twee. But give it time and it will be one of the most powerful albums you'll hear all year.

Arcade Fire is fronted by Butler and his wife Regine Chassagne who is originally from Haiti, a country her parents fled in the 1960s.

The band formed in Montreal in 2003 and the pair were married that same year. Oh so sweet. Now, along with three others, including Butler's brother Will, they make sweet, sometimes hard-out, and always intriguing music together.

The eerie jaunt of Rebellion (Lies) and Wake Up, with its sturdy and robust bass line, gives way to a mass vocal orgy. These are inspiring songs and the best on the album.

Funeral is an album of so many bits and pieces - be it conquering the extreme scale of the music or realising the album's overall theme of "love will conquer all" - that it will take a lot of listening before you get it.

Label: Spunk/Rhythmethod