6 - Tuesday, September 16, 2014

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

6 - Tuesday, September16, 2014 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

4

Octavia Spencer
talks new FOX role

Medical dramedy She added, "I feel very blessed
because I feel, even though I'm
to premiere this the oldest person on this show... I
feel very lucky because it's a very
Wednesday familial atmosphere.We are avery
good unit. I feel lucky that I get to
By ALEX INTNER work with these guys every day."
Daily Arts Writer What does she learn from work-
ing with the younger actors? "To
When Academy Award win- continue to enjoy the process
ner Octavia Spencer ("The Help") and have that free spirit about
was asked about her decision to go approaching the work and to not
into TV during a conference call in beso rigid."
which The Michigan Daily partici- The upcoming television sea-
pated, she noted the opportunities son will feature an increase in the
the medium can provide. diversity on network television,
"I'm an actor and I am looking with shows led by minority actors
for roles where I can continue to such as "Cristela" and Viola Davis's
evolve, and things that are chal- "How to Get Away with Murder."
lenging ... It was the fact that, for There's also an expansion in the
me, the most interesting roles have diversity of ensembles, includ-
been television." ing "Red Band Society." Spencer
Spencer's new series "Red Band thought the increase in diversity
Society" follows a group of teenag- on her show was worthy of cel-
ers in a hospital's pediatric ward, ebration.
and the doctors and nurses who "I think that's wonderful
care for them. For the actress, it because it's representative of the
was an easy decision to commit to world that we live in. But I think
the FOX dramedy. diversity comes inthe fact that you
"(I) absolutely, positively loved have an overweight beauty like
the show. Everything that you myself being the lead of a show
experienced as a viewer, I expe- with Latin, Asian, African-Ameri-
rienced as an actor reading the can, gay (and) Jewish people. The
material. It's on the page." hospital is one of the most diverse
Another reason Spencer was atmospheres that you could ever
drawn into the project was the be a part of. So, I'm glad that all the
level of talent behind the camera, creatives wanted to be truthful to
as the show comes from Amblin that."
Television, thel production com-
pany of Steven Spielberg. "(He's)
my favorite director. So, when his
name is on anything, of course I'm
going totake it seriously."
"Red Band Society" has been
described as "Glee" meets "Thep
Fault in Our Stars," and Spencer
found the series' tonal ambiguity
fascinating.
"Everyone has a different path
that they walk in life ... The cir-
cumstances are definitely funny
within this very serious situation.
I was in awe when I read and I
cried and I laughed a lot ... I think
people willt asetrun a
emotions actually"
Spencer had nothing but nice
things to say about the kids she
works with on the show. "They're
really brilliant, very hard working, Doc c
very, very intuitive young actors."

She also had a lot to say about
the strength behind her character,
a nurse in the hospital.
"You want to know why this
woman is the way she is and
why she chose to be a caregiver
.. I think some of the strongest
people are people who are quiet
and not so brazen with their emo-
tion," she said. "What's interesting
about Nurse Jackson is I think her
strength comes a lot of times in just
her quiet moments. So, that's what
I like that you get to see a whole
person and that I'll get to grow
with her as an actor."
Spencer also alluded to what
viewers can expect from her char-
acter's journey throughout the
season.
"I think that Nurse Jackson
being a woman who is taking
care of people who have, some
of them, very serious illnesses ...
There's a lot that you have to do
and she maintains thattype of bra-
vado, especially with the patients
because you can't give an inch
sometimes, because people will
probably likely try to take amile."
She added, "But I think what
you'll learn about her as the season
progresses is why she chose this
line of work. You will determine
whether or not she has a heart of
gold or if she has acold, cold heart."
"Red Band Society" premieres
this Wednesday at9p.m. onFOX.

4

'Smells like teen spirit'
fAF 's'Funeral' turns 1

4

By BRIAN BURLAGE
Daily Arts Writer
When I was a sophomore in
high school, Iused to think that in
order to truly connect with a song,
the volume on the radio had to be
turned up to its maximum level
(or somewhere close to it). Songs
would blare through my speak-
ers and fill the car with the very
substance of their noise. Physics
classes had taught me that songs
and sounds travel in wavelengths
and that wavelengths impose a
kind of physicality on the sur-
faces they strike. To connect with
a song meant to feel it approach
your ears, to imagine its invisible
rockets of sound ricochet off the
walls or to let the wiry limbs of its
instruments tangle and untangle
around you like wind-blown bal-
loon strings.
Along with most other things
in high school, that belief turned
out to be more of a passing phase
than a soulful commitment. I rev-
eled in the senselessness of my
personal ethos. When school-
work, family or relationships
clouded my mind, I would chase
them out with sound. The bands
blasting through the radio could
do all the negotiating for me. I
believed that volume, above all,
could douse a song with gasoline
and gss a match shamelessly in
its direction - that in the warm
hum of that sonic blaze, music
found its heaviest and most
potent frequency.
Arcade Fire's Funeral obliter-
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ated that approach for me. Listen- were breaching Billboard charts
ing to the album on the way home with their boiled down, politi-
from school - in the winter, sum- tally feeble punk. As much as it
mer, sun, snow or rain - alone in was a time of musical disunion,
my car catapulted me from that Arcade Fire saw their oppor-
phase of my life into the next, the tunity to reinvent the national
phase I'm currently living within, aesthetic.
the one that I very much hope I In Funeral we hear the long
never grow out of. tradition of indie rock laid out in
The great strength of Funeral 10 anthemic tracks - gritty, vis-
exists now as it did 10 years ago ceral, strange, sublime. We hear
because it finds itsvoice not in vol- art rock, baroque pop, dance-
ume or decibel, but rather in the rock, post-punk and experimen-
sensory experience of the listener. talism, due in part to Arcade
You can listen to Funeral on the Fire's irrepressible emotional
lowest volume level or the highest response to the deaths of several
and be fully impacted by its emo- beloved ones, a collective pain
tional sprawl. The album takes a that could not be purged through
part of you and uses it like tinder, one or two or five genre aesthet-
flinging it repeatedly against the ics. The telekinesis of marriage
coarseness of its own battered (Win Butler with Rgine Chas-
body to produce a mutual flame. sagne) and sibling relation-
No matter your origin, your musi- ships (Win and William Butler)
cal tastes, appreciations or prefer- both electrifies and ordains the
ences, Funeral takes and adopts band's otherwise ordinary indie
your perspective. You just have to drama. These are genuine reac-
listen. tions to real tragedies, shared
Arcade Fire recorded the album by family members and friends,
in Montreal and split the produc- captured in their microcosm of
tion time between two different songful expression. If Funeral
seasons - first in August of 2003, was conceived of catharsis and
grief, it was made immortal by
an equally abounding hope.
Beloved debut Josh Deu, who co-founded
the band with Win while they
holds up decade were students at Concordia Uni-
versity, meanwhile expanded
d"4ater. - and strssed theNvisuflside.
He handled much of the band's
early promotional stuff and dab-
bled with their initial web con-
then in the late months of winter in tent. One of his most impactful
2004. In doing so, the band was contributions - it continues to
able to haul in the blissful surge follow the band - was his direc-
of summer warmth and iron it torial work with the music video
over with ice and wintry winds. for their first single "Neighbor-
The ugly beauty of Funeral is hood #1 (Tunnels)." The video's
marked by this duality of sea- spooky shoebox caricatures are
son; rather, through constant interspersed with old-timey
turn of atmosphere, the album sequences of the band mem-
becomes season-less. Win But- bers, as they rock and bop to the
ler's bittersweet falsetto often upswing of their indestructible
teeters between rising and fall- beat. But it's a haunting video. At
ing inflection. His moody vocal the time of the its releaseArcade
reach strains into ethereal sad- Fire seemed likethe kind ofband
ness and yet, in Funeral's few that would play live for free in
quieter stretches, it maintains the front yard of the neighbor-
a supercharged positivity. The hood's local haunted house. The
energy evokes a sense of inward track'swispy piano paces the sky
collision about the album. Bright like a ghost in the midst of heart-
string sections clash with the break, its lonely shriek reified in
fuzzy synths, while horns and the backing vocalists' chilling
harps vie for background space. midnight howl. To some degree,
We hear a range of instruments the synergy between the music
tweaking each other's sound: a and the visuals inspired talk
xylophone, glockenspiel, man- about Arcade Fire finally being
dolin, viola, 12-string guitar, the band that could project Gen-
accordion and a hurdy-gurdy. eration Y's millennial drama
It takes four "Neighborhood" - however vain - into a watch-
tracks - almost consecutively able, listenable realm.
- for Arcade Fire to fully ham- The simple images thatFuner-
mer out the message behind altransposes are both deliberate
them: death, heartbreak, loss, and universal. Funerals them-
regret are each uniquely devas- selves are common to every cul-
tating, tragic even, but they can ture, at least in some form.. In
be overcome. All it takes is time, the instance of someone's pass-
Part of what generated the ing, family members and friends
band's incredible buzz in 2004 come together to honor that
was the way they seemed to person's life. Things of tempo-
effortlessly stitch and sew ral nature - achievements, fail-
together the Canadian indie aes- ures,job promotions, academics,
thetic. In the early 2000s, Cana- accidents, adventures, misfor-
dian artists like Sarah Harmer, tunes - matter very little when
k-os, the Constantiges, Feist and remembering someone and who
Joel Plaskett Emergency were they were as a human being. A
salvaging bits and pieces of their few lines from Arcade Fire's first
genres from the scatter-brained song on its first EP come to mind
flux of the'90s. British Columbia as apt description of this fune-
was bringing forth fiery, autono- real celebration: "Your eyes are
mous artists at an impressive fluttering/Such pretty wings/A
rate. Quebec and the rest of moth flying into me/The same
French Canada absorbed subtle old flame again/It never ends."

American and European influ- Funerals have always been, for
ences, which were seen earlier me at least, a time for loved ones
in the blues-rock of Jean-Pierre to pinpoint that "old flame" in
Ferland and in Harmonium's someone gone, and to kindle it
careful prog-rock. Nova Scotia with the care of an aching heart.
ushered the Thrush Hermits Arcade Fire's Funeral reminds
onto the alternative/indie scene us that from generation to gen-
just before the millennium, and eration we pass the old flame
Toronto produced post-rock forward, living by its radiance,
knockouts Godspeed You! Black sharing it with others, knowing
Emperor. Meanwhile, artists truly that if we do these things,
like Simple Plan and Billy Talent its light will never end.

REL.ASEDAI- TuesUay, Septemeu1m0, 4
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
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