Finding God in Rock - Part 1

By Brother Daniel Leckman, S.J.

I have just came back from a couple of spiritually uplifting days in Wikwemikong, an unceded native reserve in Ontario, and at the Jesuit-run Anishinabe Spiritual Centre in Espanola. There were many spiritual fruits from those days, but I am not ready to blog about them yet. When thinking about preparing this entry, I thought of Arcade Fire. This is a band that’s been on many people’s minds since their first album Funeral came out in 2005.

I eventually began listening to that album in 2006. At first, I was not impressed: the vocals are unorthodox and not that pleasant, and the music is a little repetitive and simplistic at times. Oddly enough, it was around that time that I also began to appreciate U2. I had heard them before, but had not carefully listened to their music before. There is no doubt that Bono and his boys do have a bit of an influence on the sound of Arcade Fire. So what I was beginning to like about U2, I also liked about Arcade Fire: a simple, but effective base line. I took pleasure in the exquisite use of power chords – those usually turn me off – but both bands seem to be able to use them rather effectively.