It’s been five years since Arcade Fire’s Will Butler released his debut solo record Policy. In-between then Arcade Fire released a new album, toured the world, and he got his master’s degree in public policy from Harvard (as you do).
Today he has announced that his sophomore album is entitled Generations and will be released on September 25th via Merge Records.
The announcement comes with the release of first single “Surrender.” It’s got that playful feel found on his first album, but a slightly more alt-country influence in-between, along with plenty of slight traces of Arcade Fire hidden in-between.
Here’s how Butler describes the track:
“Surrender” is masquerading as a love song, but it’s more about friendship. About the confusion that comes as people change—didn’t you use to have a different ideal? Didn’t we have the same ideal at some point? Which of us changed? How did the world change? Relationships that we sometimes wish we could let go of, but that are stuck within us forever.
It’s also about trying to break from the first-person view of the world. “What can I do? What difference can I make?” It’s not about some singular effort—you have to give yourself over to another power. Give over to people who have gone before who’ve already built something—you don’t have to build something new! The world doesn’t always need a new idea, it doesn’t always need a new personality. What can you do with whatever power and money you’ve got? Surrender it over to something that’s already made. And then the song ends with an apology—I’m sorry I’ve been talking all night. Cause talking like that, man, not always useful.
Find the music video for “Surrender” below, along with the album art and tracklist.
- Generations tracklist:
1. Outta Here
2. Bethlehem
3. Close My Eyes
4. I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know
5. Surrender 03:49
6. Hide It Away
7. Hard Times
8. Promised
9. Not Gonna Die
10. Fine
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