Since their appearance on the scene in 2001, Arcade Fire has gifted us with plenty of soulful songs of saudade – a deep nostalgic longing for something lost that will never return. If you’re looking for music for reflection and lyrics to make you shiver, this is Arcade Fire.

1. "Normal Person"

"When they get excited, they try to hide it. Look at those normals go!"

This song is about wondering how you fit in to prescribed ideas of “normalcy”, if anyone really is, and feeling like an outsider. A lot of people seem to be repressing their identities to be accepted, but why change yourself for others? What is “normal” anyway?

2. "Crown of Love"

"I carved your name across my eyelids, you pray for rain, I pray for blindness."

The heartbreak of desperately loving somebody until they’re the only thing that matters, the only thing you can see, and their name runs through your veins. Begging for forgiveness for your mistakes and flaws. Knowing they are all you need.

3. "The Suburbs (Continued)"

"If I could have it back, all the time that we wasted, you know I would love to waste it again."

The regret of age, wishing that you could return to your childhood with more appreciation than you first had. As kids, we don’t realize how lucky we are for our youth and are in a rush to grow up, while adults long to return to their early days. Knowing you would give anything to live it again and again and again.

4. "Black Mirror"

"I know a time is coming all words will lose their meaning."

Outer shell stripped away, a dark look into naked humanity. What are you without your greed and vanity?

5. "Neighborhood #4"

"Time keeps creeping through the neighborhood, killing old folks, waking up babies just like we knew it would."

One of Arcade Fire’s many haunting melodies. Swirling memories of loss and ticking clocks. A number of their songs focus on growing up in the suburbs, with themes of change, childhood, and leaving it behind.

6. "Wake Up"

"Our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up."

An achingly painful ballad to getting older and losing your innocence and naiveté, as well as that enduring happiness that youth seems to hold.

7. "No Cars Go"

"Between the click of the light and the start of a dream."

The fantasy of a faraway place where your soul can breathe, where you can exist without interruption. Close your eyes, take a listen, and escape into this dream.

8. "Ready to Start"

"All the kids have always known that the emperor wears no clothes, but they bow down to him anyway – it’s better than being alone."

Being someone you’re not just to get by, but wanting to break free and let your real self come through through. And these lyrics in particular are about knowing something isn’t true but choosing to believe it for reassurance, giving something a meaning so you’ve got something to hold onto.

9. "We Exist"

"Daddy it's true - I'm different from you, but tell me why they treat me like this?"

An anthem for outcasts, those ostracized for not fitting the mold they’re expected to.

10. "Sprawl I (Flatland)"

"Took a drive into the sprawl to find the places we used to play. It was the loneliest day of my life."

To me, this is about returning to your hometown to find that things have changed so much, but in a way, it’s the same too. The buildings and streets you frequented are still there, but they’ve lost the spark they had. Now other children play in your parks and sleep in your house, and you’ve had to move on. It feels like you’re in a ghost town of memories, and you feel a deep nostalgia for it all, knowing you will never get to live that again.

11. "Afterlife"

"When love is gone, where does it go? And where do we go?"

This song is about the metaphorical afterlife of a relationship, when you can feel someone slipping away and you wonder if you can fix it, but it’s already over. Read another way, it could also be about literally losing your other half to death – either way you’re alone now. The ground slips from underneath you, and suddenly you don’t know where you are and what you’re doing without them.