Keep the Car Running
Tina is out attending a meeting of the Craft Mutiny, and I am home alone with our girls. Dora is on the television, and the Arcade Fire’s “Neon Bible” is playing on the stereo. Moments ago, Anya and I danced around to “Keep the Car Running.” She knows it so well that although she can’t sing the words, she goes “Ohhh Ohhhh” in all the right places.
I can’t describe how much I love “Neon Bible.” Arcade Fire means more to me than any other band, and this follow-up may not have the impact on my life that “Funeral” did, but it’s still remarkable. Where “Funeral” centered around loss, grief and personal redemption, “Neon Bible” is about life in post-9/11 America. A lot of bands have taken on this topic (see: Q and Not U, Different Damage; Green Day, American Idiot), but none have really covered the sense of grim despair many of us feel when we turn on the news. The feeling of wanting to run, but not having anywhere to go.
Tina and I luckily got tickets to the band’s upcoming show at DAR in DC. Not quite as intimate as the 9:30 Club, where we saw them just after learning that we were having twins, but great just the same.
