Neon Bible

Recorded in 2006, much of it in Petite Eglise, a former church in Farnham, Quebec that the band bought and renovated. Other sessions took place at the Butler and Chassagne house, St. James Anglican Church in Bedford, Quebec, Eglise St. Jean Baptiste in Montreal, a studio on the Hudson in New York, and Hungarian National Radio in Budapest, where Michael Pärt produced additional recordings with the Budapest Film Orchestra and a men's military choir.

Nick Launay mixed most of the songs with Marcus Strauss, over about a month. Mark Spike Stent mixed Black Mirror and No Cars Go, and Markus Dravs mixed Neon Bible and Black Wave/Bad Vibrations. Butler said he viewed his American homeland as an outsider, and cited Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Presley as influences.

"Intervention" appeared on iTunes in December 2006 with the proceeds going to Partners in Health, and the album leaked on 26 January 2007. Pitchfork's Stephen M. Deusner heard a band looking outward where Funeral looked inward, with the government, the church, the military and the entertainment industry as targets. He noted church organs, horns and a more prominent role for Chassagne.

Reception

The album reached number two in the US and the UK and number one in Canada, Ireland and Scotland. It sold about 92,000 copies in its first US week. It is certified platinum in Canada and the UK, double platinum in Ireland and gold in Australia.

Metacritic scored it 87. NME gave it 9/10. Rolling Stone's David Fricke found the band distant much of the time but still ranked it fourth among the albums of 2007. It won the 2008 Juno for Alternative Album and the Meteor Award for Best International Album, and was a Polaris Prize finalist and a Grammy nominee.

"Black Mirror" was the first single. It spent five weeks at the top of CBC Radio 3's R3-30 chart from 22 March to 19 April 2007, the first single to stay there longer than two weeks. The band made their Saturday Night Live debut on 24 February 2007, playing "Intervention" and "Keep the Car Running". During the set Butler smashed his acoustic guitar, which had a Haitian proverb meaning "An empty sack cannot stand up" taped across it in Creole.

The tour ended in February 2008 after 122 shows in 75 cities and 19 countries. In March and May 2008 the band played free concerts for Barack Obama in Ohio and North Carolina, and on 21 January 2009 they performed at the Obama Campaign Staff Ball in Washington. The concert film Miroir Noir, directed by Vincent Morisset, went on pre-order in December 2008. Polaris shortlisted the album in 2007, and the band declined to have a track on the prize's promotional compilation.