Will Butler

Will Butler, a singer, songwriter, and composer nominated for an Academy Award, gained recognition as the agile and multi-instrumental mainstay of Arcade Fire, the lively indie-rock ensemble that earned Grammy honors. He created several noteworthy side endeavors and solo releases, among them the 2020 album Generations, prior to exiting the group at the close of 2021; two years later he formed the project Will Butler + Sister Squares with a four-piece ensemble that featured his spouse Jenny Shore.

Northern California is where Butler entered the world, though he passed his early years in southern Texas. His father worked as a geologist while his mother performed as a classically trained musician; he completed his studies at Phillips Exeter Academy in 2001 and entered Arcade Fire two years afterward, the outfit conceived by his elder brother Win alongside Win’s partner Régine Chassagne. His initial recorded contribution appeared on the band’s well-regarded 2004 Merge Records debut Funeral, after which he played a substantial role on every subsequent Arcade Fire album, including Neon Bible, The Suburbs, and Reflektor.

In 2013 Butler collaborated with the equally versatile Owen Pallett on the score for Spike Jonze’s science-fiction romance Her, earning an Oscar nomination for the effort, and he delivered his wide-ranging first solo outing, Policy, through Merge in 2015. He supported that record with a solo tour backed by Miles Arntzen, Julie Shore, and Sara Dobbs; several performances were captured and assembled into the live release Friday Night, issued in June 2016. One track, “Sun Comes Up,” later received a 2018 remix treatment by the Knocks. Butler began unveiling singles ahead of his follow-up solo album, Generations, which Merge put out in September 2020.

At the conclusion of 2021 he departed Arcade Fire, explaining only that he had evolved and felt prepared to proceed in a different direction; his contributions to the band’s 2022 album We marked the end of more than two decades together. After that change he reconvened with the musicians who had accompanied him on the Policy tour, leading first to a series of concerts and then to a joint recording. Arntzen, Dobbs, Julie Shore, and Butler’s wife Jenny Shore adopted the name Sister Squares, and the five created the 2023 Merge album Will Butler + Sister Squares, an emotionally charged collection of indie songwriting that incorporated extensive studio experimentation.