Win Butler turns 40 years old on Tuesday, and he marked the occasion by sharing a long, handwritten note over Instagram updating Arcade Fire fans about the progress of their Everything Now followup. Apparently, the band is using their self-isolation time to really dig into writing, start recording and do a little introspection. Hey, what else is there to do?
According to Butler, the album is coming “eventually (not soon)” the band says, so don’t get your hopes up too high just yet. But fortunately enough, Butler says that what’s already done feels very appropriate. “We had been exploring a lot of lyrical and musical themes that feel almost eerily related to what is happening now,” he says. There’s even going to be a song called “Age of Anxiety,” apparently.
In the first of three pages of notes, Butler reflects on hitting the big 4-0, saying “I’m sorry if at any time, I have taken for granted the incredible privilege it has been to perform for you and have you engage and listen to our music.
He goes onto say that he and his wife and fellow bandmate Regine have been writing for a few months. He acknowledges that the toll COVID-19 may take on the music industry isn’t small but writes that “Though this crisis may ultimately change or destroy aspects of the music industry, I believe it will only strengthen music as an art form. It has never felt more essential, spiritual and irreplaceable…a church that lives in the air between the source and your ears.”
Butler closes by telling fans not to hold their breaths for any of the of live, virtual performances that have become popular among quarantined bands (although he says he’s not “closing the door” on the idea either) and sends his “unending love and respect.” (Please note, he uses some strong language in the P.S.)
This album, when it happens, will be Arcade Fire’s sixth. Happy birthday, Win!
