Win Butler has revealed that he’s written “two or three” Arcade Fire albums during lockdown, and said the group will return to Texas to record the new material.
The frontman, who grew up in Houston, was speaking to producer Rick Rubin on a recent edition of the Broken Record podcast when he said: “We’re planning on going back to Texas to make the next record, during the election – so that’ll be fun.”
Elsewhere, Butler revealed that Arcade Fire had been writing for a year before the coronavirus crisis brought their first recording session to a halt. However, he said the enforced extra downtime during lockdown led to an outpouring of creativity.
“Once your body’s already going, there’s no stopping it, so I’ve just been writing,” Butler explained. “I can’t remember a time when I’ve written more. [It] feels like being 18, sitting by the piano for five days in a row working on a melody for a verse. It’s been pretty amazing actually.”
He added: “This time around we’ve been in lockdown, [we] have a studio, have every keyboard, drum machine, piano – everything I could want – and fucking time. The one piece that’s been missing [on previous albums] is the time, and now the time is there.
“In a way, it feels like a more extreme version of what we would’ve done anyway.”
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At one point, Butler asked Rubin what he hoped Arcade Fire’s new album would sound like. After the producer said he wanted to “be surprised”, the frontman replied: “I think you’ll be surprised.”
You can listen to the conversation in full above.
Back in April, Butler posted various snippets of new Arcade Fire songs to his Instagram account. That same month, the singer marked his 40th birthday by sharing a series of handwritten notes confirming that the band were working on a new record.
Meanwhile, Butler has opened up about the upcoming US election in regard to the swing state of Texas.