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MagnetMar 12, 2015Policy shows that Will is more than capable of getting the kids to wake up. [No. 118, p.53]
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Mar 10, 2015This is a terrific opening volley from a musician seemingly just beginning to tap an overflowing surfeit of songwriting riches.
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MojoApr 21, 2015Policy is a dazzling execution of one man's crazed vision. [May 2015, p.91]
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Mar 9, 2015Policy is twitchy and endearingly ramshackle, channelling the can-do spirit of early-80s indie and the affability of Jonathan Richman.
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Mar 9, 2015This is the birth of Will Butler, solo artist, whose career seems just as woozily unpredictable and captivating as that of his "day job."
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Mar 6, 2015Every song has its own character, with each one further clarifying Will as a great musician and songwriter in his own right, as though there were any doubts.
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Mar 5, 2015They’re all terrific songs.
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Mar 5, 2015The grand aesthetic that makes Arcade Fire such a force is on full display. But compared to last year's plodding AF album, Reflektor, Butler gets to the point so much quicker.
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Q MagazineMar 3, 2015It's a quintessential extra-curricular album, straining every which way, but an excellent and oddly coherent one. [Apr 2015, p.97]
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Mar 6, 2015["Sing to Me" is] a small blemish on a record that is as refreshing for the listener as it is for Butler himself.
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Mar 4, 2015A harmless, infectious rock record that channels the sounds and concerns of a more innocent, less technologically complicated time.
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Mar 10, 2015When Butler isn’t taking cues from the music he grew up with, he’s more prone to wander around in just-nice-enough piano balladry. But when he is, he ends up with something which seems to bear his own identity more than it could otherwise.
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Mar 10, 2015In sum, there’s enough varied, interesting and accessible material here to make Butler’s sonic manifesto worth paying attention to.
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Mar 6, 2015He never carves out a distinctive sound for himself, opting instead to show off the breadth of his musical abilities--it's impressive, yes, but noncommittal.
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Mar 3, 2015On Policy, he proves that he's worth more than playing second or third fiddle.
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UncutMar 2, 2015A ramshackle, frequently over-the-top barrage of familiar rock tropes appropriated in the service of an unmitigated romp. [Apr 2015, p.72]
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Alternative PressMar 2, 2015Policy feels a bit too plotted, too controlled. The best moments come when Butler loosens his grip a bit. [Apr 2015, p.92]
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Mar 2, 2015Policy is a gloriously unhinged sprawl of a record, but fittingly for the man who constructed sparse piano tech-paeans for the soundtrack to Spike Jonze’s 2013 movie Her, the downbeat moments resonate, too.
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Mar 2, 2015Although the sometimes scattergun approach to genre-hopping has its drawbacks, what’s great about Policy is the future possibilities it allows Will Butler.
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Mar 6, 2015Policy's highlights maintain a precarious balance between classicism and cataclysm, but the album often tips too far in either direction.
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Mar 13, 2015Policy is enjoyable enough, but one hopes that for its follow-up, Butler takes time to find the most accomplished realisations of his material.
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Mar 10, 2015The running theme here is a giddy release--the Buzzcocks-style guitars and dark jokes about commitment in "What I Want," the helium-gospel rush of "Witness"--packed with care.
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Mar 10, 2015While Butler may have the chops to captain his own ship, he'll need to put some more water behind him before he can successfully steer the beast into port.
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Mar 10, 2015Policy is a quaint and breezy record that just happens to sound exactly like what it is--an Arcade Fire solo effort.
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Mar 9, 2015It may take Butler a few more albums (he has promised in interviews to continue writing and recording as a solo artist for years to come) to carve out his own identity from the monolithic entity he's a part of, but there are plenty of plausible ideas on Policy for Butler to continue exploring.
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Mar 5, 2015Although there's nothing exactly groundbreaking here, Policy packs plenty of personality and attitude.
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Mar 4, 2015Policy may just be too slight to be successful, forcing its shortcomings to be amplified even if there are, in fact, many things to enjoy about this record.
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Mar 18, 2015Unsurprisingly, Policy is a much smaller affair than his primary band's titanic statements on death, God, and 21st century malaise.
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Apr 14, 2015Policy is actually all over the musical map.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 22 out of 31
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Mixed: 7 out of 31
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Negative: 2 out of 31
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Mar 10, 2015
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Mar 11, 2015
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Feb 19, 2018