New Music Reviews: Springsteen, Arcade Fire, and Black Country, New Road

A couple of bands are in tough spots in this week’s column. Black Country, New Road lost their lead singer four days before they released their previous album. Arcade Fire dealt with allegations against leader Win Butler. Both albums struggle, and another archival release from The Boss is this week’s highlight.

Black Country, New Road

Forever Howlong

2025, 6/10
Four days before the release of BCNR’s 2022 album Ants From Up There, lead singer Isaac Wood quit the band. Committed to a tour, the band had to quickly finish up material they’d worked on that featured the female members sharing vocals. With a markedly different sound, they considered renaming the band, but decided against it.

We already had momentum, something that we’d worked towards.

May Kershaw, Under the Radar

The band’s earlier work featured post-punk rawness. But with Wood’s loss, they’re closer to baroque pop – the record starts with a harpsichord introduction to ‘Besties’. The record is promising, but awkward – it feels like they need more time to gel.

Hopefully, the reconfigured group continue to develop, but right now, arrangements are their biggest strength. The frenetic saxophone and violin interplay of ‘Nancy Tries To Take The Night’ is a memorable moment. They remind me of arty 1970s outfits like Van Der Graaf Generator and Renaissance.

I want to like this baroque, eccentric configuration of the band, but Forever Howlong hasn’t clicked for me – hopefully, they build on it.

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Arcade Fire

Pink Elephant

2025, 6.5/10
In 2022, Arcade Fire’s Win Butler was accused of sexual misconduct. He claimed the encounters were consensual and that he was struggling at the time, but it felt like the issue was never quite resolved.

Against this backdrop, Arcade Fire released Pink Elephant, a serviceable record that doesn’t break new ground. The record didn’t crack the Billboard Top 200.

The album is largely performed by Win Butler and Régine Chassagne. Producer Daniel Lanois has more musician credits than the other official band members. There’s a strong stretch of songs with ‘Pink Elephant’, ‘Year of the Snake’, and ‘Circle of Trust’. But they mostly sound like echoes of past Arcade Fire songs – enjoyable, but adding nothing to their legacy.

Given the circumstances, Arcade Fire needed a great album to turn peoples’ attention back to the music. A solid Arcade Fire record isn’t enough.

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Bruce Springsteen

Streets of Philadelphia Sessions

2025, 7.5/10
Bruce Springsteen’s albums during the 1990s were indifferent. Released to much fanfare, Human Touch and Lucky Town were disappointingly mundane. Meanwhile, 1995’s The Ghost of Tom Joad was fascinating thematically, but short on memorable melodies. Perhaps his best-loved song from the 1990s was ‘Streets of Philadelphia’, at the time of writing, still Springsteen’s most recent top-ten US single.

In 1994, Springsteen recorded a full album using the same setup as ‘Streets of Philadelphia’. Where Human Touch and Lucky Town tried to approximate the E-Street Band, here he’s fumbling uncertainly in new territory. Adult-contemporary doesn’t necessarily play to Springsteen’s strengths, but it’s surprisingly satisfying. It’s reliant on drum loops and synths, with some of the members from his early 1990s albums and tours accompanying him:

• Shane Fontayne – guitar
• Tommy Sims – bass
• Zachary Alford – drums.

An E-Street version of ‘Secret Garden’ eventually surfaced on Greatest Hits, but the rest of these songs have remained in the vaults. Springsteen consistently injects emotion into these songs. As with the first volume of lost albums, it’s samey and lacking immediacy. But again, it’s very impressive – it would have easily been Springsteen’s best 1990s record, like a sophisticated sequel to Tunnel of Love.

It’s not all polite – ‘One Beautiful Morning’ rocks harder than you might expect.

Springsteen’s writing pretty tunes like ‘We Fell Down’ and ‘Between Heaven and Earth’. His gift for narrative is intact, like on ‘The Little Things’, a terse tale of a sexual encounter.

I went to answer, “I don’t think we should”
Then I heard a voice say, “Yeah I guess we could”

The Little Things

Again, Springsteen’s Tracks II is a treasure trove for fans.

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