John Butler Trio // Flesh & Blood // Review
Guest post by Louis Hall
Aussie musician John Butler has made a name favouring lapsteel and acoustic guitars. Driving this sound through a number of different effects with some hard hitting percussion and deep thumping bass all thrown in to achieve a massive, funky and unique sound.
Known as the Million-dollar hippie. John Butler is set to release his sixth studio album with his band the John Butler Trio. The album comes four years after the release of their previous record April Uprising.
Flesh & Blood is an emotional journey through life which begins with a beautifully fresh sound of the earth with ‘Spring to Come’. A joyous beginning that leads into the gritty, cold, blues of ‘Livin’ in the City’. This hard groove lays down the building blocks of what’s to be expected.
As you become engulfed and mesmerised by the hard hitting beats and thumping bass lines as if they’re flowing through your bloodstream, there’s time to take a breather with softer sounding songs like ‘Wings are Wide’. Some even morose and nostalgic at times like ‘Young and wild’.
Eventually we come to the climax that shoots out as a very contemporary atmospheric ‘You’re Free’ – the perfect name to end this emotional experience.
The perfect hook of ‘Blame it on Me’ will have you punching the repeat button to immerse yourself in the massive sound of the song again and again. This huge Dub track thrown into the middle of the LP proves that the Trio are still just as loose and free, yet as they mature so does their song writing abilities. The band have truly gained a precious asset with their new percussionist and backing vocalist, Grant Gerathy.
The album itself was recorded over a twenty day period at Butler’s studio ‘the compound.’ It will be released on Friday 7th February. With such a raw and tremendous sound it is an album that begs to be listened to on vinyl.
To support the release of the album the Trio will also be returning to the UK for the first time in 3 years as part of their biggest European endeavour.
Flesh & Blood will definitely slap its mark on 2014, and if this is the standard of music to be expected over the coming months, it’s certainly going to be a good year.
You can stream the new John Butler Trio album Flesh & Blood here
Tickets for the John Butler Trio’s upcoming tour can be found here
Thomas Johnson
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