Will Butler and Sister Squares share debut single ‘Willows’
Former Arcade Fire musician Will Butler has shared his first single with Sister Squares, ‘Willows’.
Butler left Arcade Fire last year and explained his reasoning in a statement: “There was no acute reason beyond that I’ve changed—and the band has changed—over the last almost 20 years. Time for new things.” Following his departure, he shared the songs, ‘A Stranger’s House’ and ‘Nearer to Thee’, but hasn’t released a solo album since Generations in 2020.
In a new statement, Butler said of ‘Willows’: “There’s something eternally hopeful about the sound of voices singing in a room together. ‘Humans singing together in a room’ is probably the prime philosophical building block of this band.”
He added: “‘Willows’ is about leaving the past in the past. Nostalgia is sweet, but it’s a poison. The scene of the song is someone driving off into the wilderness to meet an old woman—one of the Fates, like in a folk tale. And maybe he wants to be young again, or wants things back the way they used to be. And she says: Anything can happen, for a price.”
Will Butler + Sister Squares will be touring Europe in November and the run of dates includes a show in London on November 17th. Listen to ‘Willows’ below.
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