A little over a year ago, Will Butler announced that he was leaving Arcade Fire. (A few months after Will’s departure, his brother Win Butler was accused of sexual misconduct, so the timing felt like, well, timing.) Anyway, these days Will has been releasing his own post-Arcade Fire music: “A Stranger’s House” and “Nearer To Thee,” plus “Willows,” a song credited to Will Butler + Sister Squares. The “Sister Squares” are actually Will’s backing band (Sara Dobbs, Julie Shore, Jenny Shore, and Miles Francis, who is listed as producer), and they’ve been playing with him for a decade. Now, Will + Sister Squares have announced their new self-titled album, coming September 22 on Merge.
Along with the news is a lead single and video, “Long Grass.” Here’s Will offering a bit of background on the album, which was recorded at Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn and Miles’ Synthia Studio:
I met Jenny — my wife! — in college, the year before I joined Arcade Fire. When I needed a band to tour Policy [Merge, 2015], I asked [Jenny’s sister] Julie to join because I trusted her musically. And I asked Sara, Jenny and Julie’s childhood friend, because I knew she was super talented. Antibalas (who I was drumming for) opened some Arcade Fire shows,” says Miles, who offered to play drums anytime Will needed. Will, Julie, Sara, and Miles jelled on tour and everyone worked on vocal arrangements. All along, Jenny contributed to recordings and general performance ideas, and she joined onstage in 2019.
After Generations [Merge, 2020], I considered making a weird solo record. Me alone in the basement, etc., etc. Mostly I realized that what I wanted was the opposite.
I had quit my band Arcade Fire very recently, after 20 years—maybe the most complex decision of my life. I had spent the preceding two years at home with my three children. I was 39 years old. I was waking up every morning and reading Emily Dickinson, until I had read every Emily Dickinson poem. I was listening to Morrissey, to Shostakovich, to the Spotify top 50. I had unformed questions with inchoate answers. But, honestly, I was feeling great about the record.
Miles adds, “Will and I organically discovered our relationship as a production duo through making this album. We didn’t have to talk too much about things as they happened, because the music just flowed. As a producer, working with Jenny, Julie, and Sara is the dream. They connect so innately. In one motion they can conjure a mood, or get at the root of a feeling.”
