Editor’s Note: The Albumism staff has selected what we believe to be the 110 Best Albums of the 2010s, representing a varied cross-section of artists, genres, and styles. Click “Next Album” below to explore each album in the list or for easier navigation, view the full introduction & album index here.
ARCADE FIRE | The Suburbs
Merge/City Slang/Mercury (2010)
Selected by Rayna Khaitan
Attuned to the passage of time and the relationships that disintegrate away with age, Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs is a wrenching wander through nostalgic caverns of the mind. Recalling the lost art of letter-writing and forgotten teenage drives, the Canadian band’s third album attempts to reconcile those experiences that used to light up our lives with the realities which shape our current compositions. Awakening infinite longing and pressing into every bruise my heart has ever bore, The Suburbs is absolute perfection. (If you’re building up to one transformative cry, try the interactive film created in support of this GRAMMY Album of the Year winner. It’s proof that gravity is at least in part emotional.)
LISTEN & WATCH: