Argument of Evaluation

The review I chose to evaluate was Pitchfork's Review of the debut album of Arcade Fire, titled funeral. The reviewer's criteria is based on two things: it's quality, and the ability of the music to "heal".

The author notes in the beginning that our society has experienced great sorrow in recent years (this was written in 2004), and out of that sorrow came a feeling of emptiness, perhaps to act as a defense mechanism We all became cynical, and never saw the bright side of things. The author claims that this album is in fact a release of emotion and an attempt to look at the bright side of things in the darkest of days, something that was greatly needed in our society.

He supports his claim by facts, stating that several members of the group had lost close family members in the process of making their album, so the emotion shown in the song was more obvious, and according to the author, more real. Even when a song is at its most depressing point in the album, there appears to be a ray of hope that shines through, whether it be a powerful cord, an uplifting lyric, or a soothing image.

I think the criteria of the album needing to be emotional was very well established, and by the end of the review, I had a firm understanding of what went through the minds of the band while they made the album, as well as the opinion of the reviewer when listening to it. The only thing I think the reviewer could improve on is the paragraph following the intro. It takes a little bit to understand what the author is trying to convey

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/452-funeral/