Arcade Fire Struggles with “Pink Elephant”: Can They Reignite the Spark?

The scandal was widely noticed. On August 27, 2022, the American media outlet Pitchfork reported on its website allegations of misconduct by Win Butler, the lead singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter of Arcade Fire. The accusations ranged from harassment to alleged sexual assault occurring between 2016 and 2020, supported by messages exchanged between the victims and the musician.

Despite Butler’s response, which he described as involving “consensual relationships”, and the support of his wife and co-leader of the Montreal-based band, Régine Chassagne, the allegations inevitably marred the group’s reputation. This continued until the somewhat stealthy release of their aptly named seventh album, Pink Elephant.

Persistent Allegations

Far from being a mere metaphor for hallucinations, Arcade Fire adopts the psychological concept demonstrating how, paradoxically, any effort to suppress a thought only makes it more persistent. Try it yourself. Picture a pink elephant and then try not to think about it; it becomes all you can see. The implication is clear: there’s no pretending the allegations aren’t there for Montreal’s return after a three-year hiatus. These accusations will overshadow the band, affecting the reception of We (2022), their next album, and how its songs are interpreted.

The turmoil was clear to all, but Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, and company chose to acknowledge it, perhaps as a way to confront or even to distance themselves from it. Listening to the album’s forty-two minutes and sixteen seconds—the shortest Arcade Fire album if you exclude three instrumental tracks—it seems the Canadians are out of sync. Throughout the album, the Butler-Chassagne duo appears to be in a bubble, unsure which direction to take for a comeback, or what means to use, apart from enlisting Daniel Lanois. Lanois, a collaborator of Brian Eno and a distinguished creator of visionary sound textures, has worked on notable albums like U2’s The Joshua Tree and records by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Peter Gabriel.

A Seventh Album Lacking Passion

Despite a threatening opener and the poignant title track suggesting a seventh album balanced between formal agitations and introspective meditations, both potentially cathartic as were their acclaimed albums Funeral (2004), Neon Bible (2007), and The Suburbs (2010), Pink Elephant stops there, as if the weight of the proverbial elephant in the room stifles the rest of the work.

Win Butler delivers a series of lifeless songs composed of beats from melancholic parties (Circle of Trust, I Love Her Shadow), uninspired flashes of brilliance (“We’re way beyond salvation/In the Alien Nation” on Alien Nation, better suited for live performance), and half-hearted plan B’s (Ride or Die). Yet, it is worth listening through to the final track Stuck In My Head to witness a burst of life and a return to former glory when the internal turmoil is finally addressed (“It’s a mess in my bedroom/Mess in my cart/Mess in my head/Mess in my heart”).

It’s all about approach. If Butler and his crew are unsure how to tackle the pink elephant to make a great record, one might assume that Pink Elephant was crafted by its creators to share the confusion and missteps they experienced, ultimately shaping a seventh album aware of its own lack of passion. It seems Arcade Fire might prefer to slowly burn away.

Pink Elephant (Columbia/Sony Music). Released on May 9.