Thursday, November 21, 2013

ARCADE FIRE's REFLEKTOR for a Little Creative INSPIRATION



ARCADE FIRE made a lasting impression on me ever since I witnessed their first epic performance at the Coachella Valley Music Festival. They solidified my fandom in 2011 with one of the most memorable concert experiences of my life.  I will never forget when light-up orbs spilled out from a giant crate hovering over the crowd, bouncing around like popcorn until people started to covet them for themselves. I remember thinking: these people are creative geniuses and true experience creators. They inspired me to be an experience creator, too, and reach people on an emotional level through my work.

When I listened to the new album, Reflektor, it was like an experience in itself. It's a lighter departure from their heavier, orchestral anthems of past albums, but in a way, it's almost more poetic in it's effervescence. With collaborations from James Murphy, of LCD Soundsystem, and David Bowie, you get a more dance-inspired album that lifts you off your feet and puts a smile on your face. Reflektor has been on permanent repeat in the SLICK Creative office, and we've had to pause to realize that we've been listening to it over and over for hours. We've definitely "danced ourselves clean" around the office, many times, so this new album is a great addition to our library of favorites for creative inspiration.

Arcade Fire has inspired me creatively even beyond their music. Their collaborations with interactive guru, Chris Milk, are absolutely brilliant. The Wilderness Downtown project is a marvel of interactive web coding, beautiful design and personal sentiments. Arcade Fire has always had a knack for tugging at nostalgic heart strings, and this interactive experiment captures exactly that. Visitors enter the address of their childhood neighborhood, and instantly, you are transported back to this memorable place, while sneakered feet travel the sidewalks and Arcade Fire's sprawling anthem, "We Used To Wait," unfolds with the satellite scenery. The Wilderness Downtown flexed HTML5 and Google Chrome's muscles to really show what it means to be "interactive."

With the new album, Arcade Fire hasn't slowed down in it's creative collaborations. My favorite song on Reflektor, “Here Comes the Night Time,” is featured in a 22 minute video concert on SNL and capture by Roman Coppola. I love the build-up and climax of this song, and this famous Arcade Fire characteristic of crescendo is beautifully captured in this video. I am excited for the ways this will inform our own video projects. In the meantime, it's been on permanent repeat while I've been working, and I couldn't be happier.

: NICOLE ELLINGSON
  Executive Creative Director, Founder of SLICK Creative







No comments:

Post a Comment