Gibson Top Albums of 2010 List

3. Arcade Fire, The Suburbs: Saying that it's a loose concept album about growing up in urban sprawl, or that it's Neil Young-meets-Depeche Mode (as frontman Win Butler characterized the record), doesn't due The Suburbs justice. It's a towering, sweeping achievement that loses a lot when compartmentalized or shuffled, despite each song being as strong as the next. But this is an album made to be listened to as such, made to take you on a ride that lasts from track 1 to 16. It's a big hunk of complicated feelings, of good memories and bad, of gray areas (literally and figuratively), of punk and folk and dirges and anthems. It all culminates in the synth-pop of "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)," in which Regine Chassagne, so desperate for escape, broadcasts her keening voice to the wasteland of "dead shopping malls" that envelops her existence, hoping to reach a kindred spirit. The Suburbs debuted at #1 in August and is up for an Album of the Year Grammy. Arcade Fire certainly have found their kind. Check out the full top 10

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