Skip to content
News

Arcade Fire’s Will Butler Needs Cash for Robert Frost-Inspired Film Score

arcade fire, will butler, home burial

The Arcade Fire are hard at work at LP No. 4, but multi-instrumentalist Will Butler is busy with a separate effort of his own: a film score. HitFix points out that the Canadian musician is planning to contribute original compositions to Home Burial, a short film written by Los Angeles-based actor/director Jeff Newburg that’s based on the Robert Frost poem of the same name. 

When speaking to HitFix, Newburg described the music as being “keyboard-heavy” and synth-reliant. The project is currently looking for crowdsourced funding via Indiegogo, where Butler writes, “The music for the short film will hopefully evoke Robert Frost — formal but conversational; embedded in the early 20th century but still relevant. Darker than you might expect. Bartok meets John Carpenter.”

The Frost poem depicts a scene in which a husband and wife fight “because they have not grieved [over a] terrible mutual loss,” as Newburg puts it. According to the campaign’s Indiegogo page, “Home Burial will be a blend of impressionistic exteriors and grounded interiors, modestly accenting an earnest period film.”

The description continues, “Led by a dynamic original score by Arcade Fire’s Will Butler, the music and sound design will feed into Home Burial’s meditative aesthetic. Sound design will be sparse, but gratifying. The exteriors will be filled with the rich sounds of nature while the interiors will be left bare, occupied with the sounds of a tragically empty house. When married with the visuals, Home Burial will be a powerful and beautiful experience for a serious audience.”

Currently, the project has raised $2,235 of its $10,000 goal, with 18 days left before deadline. Funding will be directed toward equipment rentals, food and travel costs, location and festival fees, insurance, post-production, and other necessities. Depending on how much money fans give, contributors could either earn a thank-you credit or be billed as an executive producer. Watch the campaign’s trailer up top and visit Home Burial‘s Indiegogo page for more information.