Meeting Place

Album: The Age Of The Understatement (2008)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Final Fantasy's Owen Pallett, who has arranged strings for the Arcade Fire, orchestrated the tracks on the album. The London Metropolitan Orchestra recorded them over Christmas 2007. Alex Turner was particularly impressed by the work of Pallet on this track. He told the NME: "There's a song called 'Meeting Place' that he really brought to life. When we were recording in France we did come up with some lines, just as initial ideas to send to him. They were quite basic, but he built on that and then he came over for three days in December to record them. We all got together in this hotel room and went through it all. He hasn't worked on too many albums before. He's our age and I think he did a bit on the second Arcade Fire record 'Funeral' and 'Neon Bible' and used to play with them, but I think he was inexperienced enough to have so much excitement for the songs. He know when to leave it out - if it was on all the songs it would be bad - but he knew when we really needed something extra."
  • Owen Pallet explained to Drowned In Sound about how he came to work on the album: "Laurence Bell from Domino Records contacted me and asked me if I'd meet Alex in Toronto. Alex and I met in the bar of his hotel, he bought me a cappuccino, then we took a cab to my southern Toronto prison and we listened to some David Axelrod records and talked about music. I listened to the tracks he'd recorded, and told him my ideas, and then I scored it out in a couple of weeks, I flew to London and conducted it with an orchestra. It was the most effortless project I've ever worked on."

Comments: 2

  • Presh from La, Cathese lyrics, these lyrics. how many of us have stranded ourselves there? poetic genius this album is, this song is
  • Allox from Qld, AustraliaThe orchestra is beautiful in this song. It's such a good song!!!!!!!
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Shawn Mullins

Shawn MullinsSongwriter Interviews

"Lullaby" singer Shawn Mullins on "Beautiful Wreck," beating the Devil, and his writing credit on the Zac Brown Band song "Toes."

Does Jimmy Page Worship The Devil? A Look at Satanism in Rock

Does Jimmy Page Worship The Devil? A Look at Satanism in RockSong Writing

We ring the Hell's Bells to see what songs and rockers are sincere in their Satanism, and how much of it is an act.

Matthew Wilder - "Break My Stride"

Matthew Wilder - "Break My Stride"They're Playing My Song

Wilder's hit "Break My Stride" had an unlikely inspiration: a famous record mogul who rejected it.

Judas Priest

Judas PriestSongwriter Interviews

Rob Halford, Richie Faulkner and Glenn Tipton talk twin guitar harmonies and explain how they create songs in Judas Priest.

La La Brooks of The Crystals

La La Brooks of The CrystalsSong Writing

The lead singer on "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me," La La explains how and why Phil Spector replaced The Crystals with Darlene Love on "He's A Rebel."

In The Cards

In The CardsSong Writing

Songwriters have used cards and card games to make sense of heartache, togetherness, and even Gonorrhea.