Policy (Will Butler album)

Policy
Studio album by Will Butler
Released	10 March 2015
Recorded	Electric Lady Studios
Genre	Indie rock, garage rock, indie pop
Length	27:20
Label	Merge

Policy is the debut solo album by Will Butler, best known for his work in Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire. The album was released on March 10, 2015 by Merge Records.^[1]

Concept

Butler set out to make an album akin to what he calls "American Music". Butler has stated that "Policy is American music—in the tradition of the Violent Femmes, The Breeders, The Modern Lovers, Bob Dylan, Smokey Robinson, The Magnetic Fields, Ghostface Killah, and John Lennon (I know, but it counts)." He has called this type of music "Music where the holy fool runs afoul of the casual world".^[1]

Recording and release

Policy was recorded in a week in Jimi Hendrix's old living room, which is now Studio C at Electric Lady Studios. Butler recorded it during a short break on Arcade Fire's Reflektor tour. Most of the instrumentation had been done by Butler, with the acceptation of drums that were done by Jeremy Gara, also of Arcade Fire. He also "Had a couple of friends come in to do clarinet, saxophone and backing vocals".^[2]

The album was released on March 10, 2015, on the Merge Records website. The album was released digitally as a CD and an LP. Two singles were released before the launch of the album. They were "Take My Side" and "Anna". Both songs were released on the label's Soundcloud page, and a music video for "Anna" was released on Butler's YouTube channel.

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	73/100[3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
NOW	[4]
Spin	8/10[5]
Pitchfork Media	6.6/10[6]
NME	7/10[7]
Rolling Stone	[8]
Magnet	8.5/10[9]
Exclaim!	6/10[10]

Policy received positive reviews upon its release. As of March 17, 2015, it holds a Metacritic score of 73/100, aggregating "generally favorable reviews".^[3] A review from Rolling Stone praised the album for it's intent on making what Butler calls "American Music", while still retaining a little bit of Arcade Fire, saying that "The first solo album by the younger Butler sibling in Arcade Fire is less than half the length of his band's 2013 Reflektor. Policy is also more playful, a montage of impulses — crunchy rock, apocalyptic electro-disco, solo-John Lennon balladry — that come like whiplash... In the melodic arc of "Son of God," a slice of The Suburbs skinned down to the folk-rock jitters of the Violent Femmes."^[8] SPIN said "This is the birth of Will Butler, solo artist, whose career seems just as woozily unpredictable and captivating as that of his 'day job'".^[5] Dean Essner of Consequence of Sound had mixed feelings about Policy "May just be too slight to be successful, forcing its shortcomings to be amplified even if there are, in fact, many things to enjoy about this record".

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Will Butler, except where noted. 

Personnel

All other artists who worked on Policy are unnamed by Butler.

• Will Butler – guitar, vocals, bass
• Jeremy Gara – drums

References