Getting Inside Hymn -- Ocean of Noise

First off, I think I may need to further explain my selections for 'Getting Inside Hymn.' It's not solely based on one particular thing, be it lyrics, music or instumental or vocal proficiency. Granted, any combination of the aforementioned usually are a huge factor in transending a 'song' into an 'experience.'

The best songs, I think, can create a mood: romantic (Sinatra), relaxed (Jack Johnson), fun (New Pornographers), pensive (Sigur Ros). Of course, bad songs can elicit an emotional response, too. But not the ones that I like to feel, save the conflicted feelings I get when hearing 'I Kissed A Girl,' my summer '08, 'fat girls and mopeds' guilty pleasure.

So, in the lamest of distinctions, I don't just hear a good song... I feel it.

One of the more recent tracks that broke through the senses was 'Ocean of Noise,' by Arcade Fire. The album from which it derives -- Neon Bible -- is rock solid. It's well crafted, ambitious and dramatic in the best possible way. To me, the drama is most amplified in 'Ocean of Noise' (with Intervention, and it's Pink Floyd- bleek lyrics via a children's choir a close second). The lyrics of my favorite track are pretty solid on their own merit:

In an ocean of noise,
I first heard your voice,
Ringing like a bell,
As if I had a choice, oh well!

Left in the morning
While you were fast asleep,
Into an ocean of violence,
A world of empty streets.

You've got your reasons,
And me I've got mine,
But all the reasons I gave
Were just lies to buy myself some time.

In an ocean of noise,
I first heard your voice,
Now who here among us
Still believes in choice?
—Not I!

No way of knowing
What any man will do,
An ocean of violence
Between me and you.

You've got your reasons,
And me I've got mine,
But all the reasons I gave
Were just lies to buy myself some time.

I'm gonna work it out.
'Cause time won't work it out.
I'm gonna work it out.
'Cause time won't work it out for you. I'm gonna work it on out.

I gotta say, 'You've got your reasons, And me I've got mine, But all the reasons I gave Were just lies to buy myself some time' is some real good shit on the page. But when the lyrics are married with the slow-burning, haunting build of the music, the listener (or me) is transfixed.

The mood it elicits is a mixture of lust and loss (call it 'luss'). It's four-plus minutes of yearning and self-reflecion (or is it denial?) drenched in lovers' sweat. I want to have sex to this song, but I fear being crushed in its emotional wake. Not to mention the four-plus minute running time... I'm no superhero.