"Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" (also known simply as "Sprawl II") is a song by Canadian

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, and Jeremy Gara. The band's touring line-up includes former core ...

. It was released as the sixth and final single from their third studio album, ''

The Suburbs ''The Suburbs'' is the third studio album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire, released on August 3, 2010. Coinciding with its announcement, the band released a limited edition 12-inch single containing the title track and "Month of May".

'', on April 21, 2012. Two music videos were released for the song, one "traditional" and one interactive, both of which were released on December 13, 2011.

Composition

"Sprawl II" is a

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

song. It features vocals delivered by Arcade Fire band member Régine Chassagne and was primarily inspired by the 2003

Tracy Kidder John Tracy Kidder (born November 12, 1945) is an American writer of nonfiction books. He received the Pulitzer Prize for his '' The Soul of a New Machine'' (1981), about the creation of a new computer at Data General Corporation. He has recei ...

book, '' Mountains Beyond Mountains''.

Release

A remix of "Sprawl II" by the Belgian electronic band

Soulwax Soulwax are a Belgian electronic band and DJ/production collective from Ghent, who formed in 1995. Centred around brothers David and Stephen Dewaele, other current members include Igor and Laima Cavalera, and Stefaan Van Leuven. The group first ...

was previewed on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

on March 20, 2012. Later that year, the song was released as a

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a "single" or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compa ...

on April 21 as part of Record Store Day 2012. A remixed version of the song appears as the A-side, with a remixed version of another track from ''The Suburbs'', "

Ready to Start "Ready to Start" is a single from Arcade Fire's third album ''The Suburbs''. It was released as a single in 2010. The band performed "Ready to Start" as their second performance at the 53rd Grammy Awards, immediately following ''The Suburbs'' w ...

", as the B-side. Both remixes were done by Canadian music producer Damian Taylor.

Critical reception

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' awarded "Sprawl II" the designation of Best New Track, with critic Larry Fitzmaurice calling the disco production "a glorious change-up for the band and its fans". In a retrospective analysis, Jim Beviglia of ''

American Songwriter ''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee. History The ''American Songwri ...

'' called the song a "rousing anthem" and one of ''The Suburb'''s "finest moments". In best songs of the decade rankings, "Sprawl II" was ranked number 74 by ''

Uproxx Uproxx Studios (stylized as ''UPROXX'') is an American music, entertainment and popular culture website and content studio. It was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater. The website was acquired in 2014 by Woven Digital (which later ...

'', number 50 by ''Pitchfork'', and number 20 by ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

''.

Music video

A music video for "Sprawl II", lasting five minutes and forty seconds, was released by Merge Records on December 13, 2011, prior the song's physical release, through

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. The video was directed by Vincent Morisset and primarily features Régine Chassagne throughout the video. An interactive version of the music video was also made available, where the user can determine the video's speed by dancing along using their

webcam A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in Videotelephony, video telephony, live streaming and social media, and Closed-circuit television, security. Webcams can b ...

Track listing

* Merge / Sonovox — MRG442

Charts

Release history

References

{{Arcade Fire 2010 songs 2012 singles Arcade Fire songs Canadian synth-pop songs Merge Records singles Songs written by William Butler (musician) Songs written by Win Butler Songs written by Régine Chassagne Songs written by Jeremy Gara Songs written by Tim Kingsbury Songs written by Richard Reed Parry Libera Award for Video of the Year