Afterlife

Album: Reflektor (2013)
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Songfacts®:

  • This synth-heavy track finds frontman Win Butler questioning what happens next in life. He told UK newspaper The Sun: "I was a philosophy student in college. So without thinking too pretentious, I'm always thinking of ideas and the world we live in and trying to relate to the world."
  • Arcade Fire unveiled the track on the September 28, 2013 episode of Saturday Night Live. The band performed the song with Haitian drummers, and also with the Canadian musician Owen Pallet, who does their orchestral arrangements. Colin Stetson and Michael Lewis from the American folk-rock band, Bon Iver, also joined in. Arcade Fire also played "Reflektor" and appeared in the "New Cast Member or Arcade Fire" sketch, where Win Butler pretended to be Robert De Niro.
  • The song's lyric video features footage from the movie Black Orpheus, over which the words are displayed. The 1959 Portuguese-language film was the inspiration for the Reflektor tracks "Awful Sound (Oh Eurydice)" and "It's Never Over (Oh Orpheus)."
  • The song's music video focuses on the internal wishes of a Spanish speaking father and his two sons, as they reflect on the mother/wife who left them way too soon. It was directed by Emily Kai Bock, who is best known for Grimes' breakthrough "Oblivion" clip.

Comments: 1

  • Hunter from Otago, New ZealandThis is arcade fire's Best song. There is such a beautiful meaning behind and the song is just so powerful and strong
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