The tour brings Butler to Bloomington on Tuesday for a show at the Bishop Bar. This will be the second of six shows rock trio Hearing Things will play along with Butler. Local concert promoter Spirit of ’68 organized the show.
Not only is the tour supporting Butler’s new musical venture, but $1 from each ticket sold goes toward Plus One.
Arcade Fire started the organization when trying to find ways to support Haiti, and musicians such as the National, Vampire Weekend and Local Natives have worked with the organization to raise money for the nonprofit medical provider ?Partners In Health.
“Policy” was released through Merge Records on March 10 and is Butler’s debut album as a solo artist after four albums as a multi-instrumentalist and backup vocalist with Arcade Fire. Butler’s brother, Win, and his classmate, Régine Chassagne, formed the band in 2001 and released their first album, “Funeral,” in 2004.
Spirit of ’68 founder Dan Coleman said the album and tour mark a step back for Butler from the band he has been a member of for about a decade.
“It’s just nice to catch him in a more intimate environment with a more, I don’t know if personal is the right word, but stripped-down, straight-ahead rock sound,” Coleman said. “He’s kind of getting back to the roots of rock and roll.”
Coleman said he hasn’t listened to all of Butler’s new album yet, but he liked the album’s first single, “Take My Side.”
He also said he trusts the music Merge Records releases to be good.
Mack Hayden, writing for Paste Magazine, said the album’s first single is the best on the album because it keeps Butler from being overshadowed by his earlier projects.
Throughout the album, Butler ranges from sounding like the Violent Femmes to the Talking Heads, Hayden wrote. The album often seems like a celebration of the musical heroes Butler grew up with.
“Will Butler’s in the band that broke indie rock into the mainstream,” Hayden wrote. “Let him throw a party for his heroes.”
Coleman said Tuesday’s show looks like it is going to be a sold-out one with just about 25 tickets left Saturday.
The live show will definitely be different from an Arcade Fire show, Coleman said.
“Well, for one thing, there will be about 95 less people onstage,” he said. “But it will just be more of a pure rock sound than most Arcade Fire fans are accustomed too.”
