Policy

For his solo album, Arcade Fire’s younger Butler brother borrows the band’s drummer, Jeremy Gara, and has his musical friends add woodwinds and backing vocals while he takes charge of the rest. Recorded at his Electric Lady Studios in New York in just two weeks, Policy has a sense of fun that Arcade Fire’s painstaking productions never quite have. Will Butler uses his hyper multi-talents to pivot styles, bouncing with vintage new wave for “Take My Side,” “Anna,” and “What I Want” and venturing more slowly elsewhere. The eight-track album wastes not a note. It’s a compact masterpiece that demands repeated listens.