Weekly Round Up: Feat. Arcade Fire, Polica, Phoenix, Flume, The Preatures and Yoko Ono

With poignant lyrics that make you contemplate your own mortality and a distinctive melody exclusive only to the Canadian rockers, Arcade Fire's newbie 'Afterlife' is poised for an alternative airways takeover.

Hailing from Reflektor, the follow up record to 2010's Grammy Award winning The Suburbs; Afterlife is an upbeat disco-pop jam that only strengthens Arcade Fire's claim on the indie-rock genre. Since Funeral and Neon Bible, the band continues to expand their already devoted fanbase whilst reaching new levels of commercial success.

The track premiered on BBC Radio 1 with Zane Lowe last week. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine founding (hus)band member Win Butler claims that the album (three years in the making) is heavily influenced by a life-changing trip to Jamaica and Haiti. He says:
 "I was learning from what I saw and applying it to my own life, lyrically... I'm not trying to tell other people's stories. We're just trying to allow an experience to change you."

Reflektor is out now. Check out the official lyric video for AfterLife Below. 

If you are a regular to mysixstringheart you will already know of my love of Minneapolis synth-poppers Poliça. They have graced their eagerly awaiting fans with Shulamith, a follow up to 2012's Give You The Ghost. The clip for Warrior Lord, the new single from Shulamith hints at a physical relationship between the two heroines floating innocuously in a picturesque lake. The murky tones of the track perfectly align with the nature of the video. It is without a doubt a beautiful piece of art, but it just doesn't grab me. Thankfully the song is so lovely it doesn't need to.

French four-piece Phoenix are back with a spectacular minimalist approach to their new single Chloroform. Sofia Coppola, from such directorial fame as The Virgin suicides, The Bling Ring and Lost In Translation, lends her expertise to this video. Chloroform portrays the band in a live setting but focuses on the primarily female based audience fawning over the musicians. They watch the performance and gently sway along, with adoration on their faces and tears in their eyes. What could be perceived as a narcissistic portrayal of the band themselves, I find is actually enlightening. We get to see what they sometimes see from their pedestal of a stage.

Sydney favourite Flume has spent a bit of time recording this little gem with The Preatures vocalist Isabella Manfredi. It sounds very... well, Flume. And I mean that in the best way possible.
It's called The Greatest View. 
 



Lastly, check out Yoko being Yoko in Bad Dancer below:

I hope you are enjoying your week! xx