Policy

AlbumMar 10 / 20158 songs, 27m 19s
Indie Rock
Popular

For his solo album, Arcade Fire’s younger Butler brother borrows the band’s drummer, Jeremy Gara, and has his musical friends add woodwinds and backing vocals while he takes charge of the rest. Recorded at his Electric Lady Studios in New York in just two weeks, *Policy* has a sense of fun that Arcade Fire’s painstaking productions never quite have. Will Butler uses his hyper multi-talents to pivot styles, bouncing with vintage new wave for “Take My Side,” “Anna,” and “What I Want” and venturing more slowly elsewhere. The eight-track album wastes not a note. It’s a compact masterpiece that demands repeated listens.

6.6 / 10

The first solo album from Will Butler, Arcade Fire member and younger brother of Win, Policy feels very much like an attempt to recapture some of the happy-accidental spontaneity that defined that band’s early years.

B

It’s next to impossible to evaluate Will Butler’s solo debut, Policy, on its own merits. The stadium-sized behemoth incarnate in the room is Arcade Fire, the band in which he plays an ancillary role as a keyboardist/synth player and occasional drummer, overshadowed by the husband/wife duo of his older brother Win and…

7 / 10

Will Butler steps out from the shadow of Arcade Fire with the release of his dizzying solo album that, despite the array of instrumentation he gets his hands on, really shines in the quiet moments.

7.3 / 10

If you ever see a live Arcade Fire performance (either in person or on YouTube), Will Butler is pretty easy to spot.

Check out our album review of Artist's Policy on Rolling Stone.com.

Every song has its own character, with each one further clarifying Will as a great musician and songwriter.

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6 / 10

Although Win Butler stands as Canadian indie-rock band Arcade Fire's tenacious leader, fans have had their eyes on brother Will Butler for y...

7.5 / 10

As the lesser-known sibling of indie rock royalty, Will Butler has it made. Away from his brother Win's every-day obligations of leading one of the globe's most revered bands, the Arcade Fire multi-instrumentalist can focus on his own whims without too mu

6 / 10

Music Review: Will Butler - Policy.

Given the songwriting chops Butler flashes here, there’s no explanation as to why he’s never gotten to sing a single song with Arcade Fire.

6 / 10

4.5 / 10

Review of 'Policy' the new album by Arcade Fire member Will Butler. 'Policy' comes out on March 9th via Merge Records. The lead single is "Take My Side."

Arcade Fire’s Will Butler presents an album of eight raucously enjoyable songs that hop between genres with delightful skill

50 %

Perhaps it makes sense then that pivotal AF member Will Butler decided to make a morsel sized LP that sounds absolutely ragged in comparison to the proggy, overstuffed ambitions of the last proper album he was a part of.

Album Reviews: Will Butler - Policy