For those of us lucky enough to have witnessed Arcade Fire in full flow, Will Butler has always been the standout performer among their entourage-cum-band.
Brother Win and his wife Regine are the lead vocalists and take centre-stage, but the more interesting spectacle is always watching the younger Butler cavort and gallivant around. Whether it’s the Pyramid at Glastonbury or the Roundhouse in Camden, there’s not a square metre of the stage that goes untouched by his presence. But how does this energy translate onto record?
With no little ease, it seems. Butler’s solo debut, Policy, was a watered down, scuzzier sibling of his parent band’s Reflector album, and on Generations he continues the pattern. Arcade Fire’s 2017 LP Everything Now was defined by its disco-house, and whilst the tracks on offer here are slightly less epic, the album confirms that grandiosity runs through the Butler veins.
Likewise, it’s undeniable that Will has a near-identical voice to his brother. This is no criticism (you can’t do anything about genes) or lazy comparison, merely a statement of fact; he makes the same vocal decisions, whether it be wrenching every last soulful emotion on the bopping Outta Here, or conveying world-weariness on the electronic, percussion-heavy I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know. The former track opens the album and is a mission statement in both lyrics (‘I got no more tears today, I got better things on my mind’) and sonics as the pulsing synths welcoming us in get up and down the scale before Generations eventually becomes a samba-disco album. The latter has the same trick up its sleeve, but placed midway through its doubtful tone is in contrast to what has gone before, until the fizzing percussion and cascading chorus lift the mood.
The two tracks that precede it are cut from the same cloth, but differ in approach; Bethlehem is a hedonistic bouncing piece of FM rock with sprinkles of glitter, whereas Close My Eyes positively twinkles with joy and energy. The upbeat tones are broadly spread across the album as a whole; recent single Surrender is almost unbearably jaunty and uplifting as Butler perhaps loses himself to the joyous rapture with an ill-judged, but enthusiastic, falsetto.
The disco-house does get a bit wearing, but it’s hard to deny such enthusiasm, especially as this bleak winter draws every closer. Hide It Away fuzzes along well enough but doesn’t really go anywhere, while Hard Times (‘kill the rich, salt the earth’) is disorienting and brooding, but with a tone that suggests hope is around the corner.
Not Gonna Die seems as maudlin in subject matter as the title suggests before progressing first into defiant stadium rock (‘Not gonna die from an average heart attack’), then out-and-out gospel. Closing track Fine is well named, the track that’s played over the end credits. Sauntering saxophone gives way to a stripped down, piano-based Broadway ballad, an exhalation after what has gone before.
Overall, with life-affirming choruses and a bombardment of aural colour, Generations makes a strong case for Will Butler being the pop guru behind one of the biggest groups in the world.