It some uncharacteristically exciting 2020 news, Win Butler of Arcade Fire has said he's been writing new material feverishly since the beginning of coronavirus quarantine, enough to record "two or three" albums in the coming months.
Speaking with producer Rick Rubin for the "Broken Record" podcast, Butler confirmed plans for the "surprising" new material, explaining that he continued writing when COVID-19 lockdown halted the band's recording sessions that would've taken place earlier this year.
"Once your body's already going, there's no stopping it, so I've just been writing," he said. "I can't remember a time when I've written more. Feels like being 18, just sitting at a piano for five days in a row just working on a melody for a verse."
Previously, the band had confirmed through their social channels that COVID-19 isolation helped speed up the creative process and that they were working on new music — but no one knew the volume of material until now.
"The writing has intensified, and the work is flowing out," the band wrote back in April. "It is challenging as ever, and with just as much purpose."
Butler estimates another year or so before Arcade Fire can begin to demo the bulk of the work sufficiently. According to the interview, he plans to head to Texas around the time of the American election next month to begin the process.
Whatever and whenever it is to come, it will be the direct follow-up to 2017's Everything Now.
Listen to the full interview below.
Speaking with producer Rick Rubin for the "Broken Record" podcast, Butler confirmed plans for the "surprising" new material, explaining that he continued writing when COVID-19 lockdown halted the band's recording sessions that would've taken place earlier this year.
"Once your body's already going, there's no stopping it, so I've just been writing," he said. "I can't remember a time when I've written more. Feels like being 18, just sitting at a piano for five days in a row just working on a melody for a verse."
Previously, the band had confirmed through their social channels that COVID-19 isolation helped speed up the creative process and that they were working on new music — but no one knew the volume of material until now.
"The writing has intensified, and the work is flowing out," the band wrote back in April. "It is challenging as ever, and with just as much purpose."
Butler estimates another year or so before Arcade Fire can begin to demo the bulk of the work sufficiently. According to the interview, he plans to head to Texas around the time of the American election next month to begin the process.
Whatever and whenever it is to come, it will be the direct follow-up to 2017's Everything Now.
Listen to the full interview below.
