Music

Watch acoustic studio performances of Arcade Fire's "Sprawl II" and "We Used to Wait"

by Nicole Villeneuve

Arcade Fire recently dropped by Chicago public radio station WBEZ 91.5 for a performance, keeping the whole band in tact but scaling back the arrangements of the songs—here you can watch them perform two standouts from last years’ (and yesterday’s Polaris longlisted) the Suburbs, “Sprawl II” and “We Used to Wait.”

“Sprawl II” sounds not quite as, ahem, sprawling as the synth-driven original, but its piano melody and highlighted major/minor key switch trick reveal a new depth to the song. The latter of the two takes on a melancholy feeling as opposed to the tense restlessness of the original. You can watch the videos below.

“Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”

“We Used to Wait”