Will Butler of Arcade Fire fame can time travel. Are any of us surprised? In the film clip for Friday Night, the titular track from his live album recorded at Chicago’s Lincoln Hall, what begins as a simple breakfast with his real-life wife Jenny Shore and son Alvin becomes a screwball flash-forward to Alvin’s presumably inevitable “angsty teen” phase. Comedian Zack Willis is perfectly cast as Teen Alvin – he SERIOUSLY looks related to Butler – and he leaves the family home in a huff to throw a petty, cross-neighbourhood tantrum. It’s a great visual accompaniment to the track, which kinda reads as a scattered, desperate, adult version of spitting the dummy but retains its good humour through a tottering piano.
The clip itself is, unsurprisingly, directed by another comedian: Jo Firestone. She sounds like she basically had the time of her life making it:
“I’m a big fan of Will. His album is incredible. He’s so talented, and on top of that he’s nice – and he’s so talented that he really doesn’t have to be nice at all. I’m certainly not worthy to make music videos for him, but we tried our best.”
Of COURSE he’s super nice to boot. Of course. And if this clip is anything to go by, Will Butler definitely doesn’t take himself too seriously either. As much as I want to be angry about some people winning the personality/talent lottery, I can’t be. You win, Butler. And Firestone’s selling herself short – the clip is irresistibly quirky and charming, and will improve the hell out of your Wednesday.
Friday Night the album was released in June, but will be released again on vinyl on September 9 via Merge. It features five songs from Butler’s debut LP Policy, as well as five new songs (one of which is the title track).
Read more: Will Butler does a bizarre review of Grimes’ new album ‘Art Angels’
Image: Jo Firestone