[rating=7.00]
The honesty in John Butler’s songwriting comes through in his storytelling, both lyrically and instrumentally; it’s a component of his music that is very experience based. In live performance, a cornerstone experience like “Ocean” is something that is transmitted from Butler into anyone who is actively listening. The newest release from the John Butler Trio, titled Flesh & Blood, is a recording full of feeling and relatable experience, coming on the heels of the worldly acclaimed 2010 release April Uprising.
The record has an opening feeling of awakening to gradual sunlight, which is brought to life on “Spring to Come.” “Out of darkness only light can come, after a lonely long night comes the sun,” sings Butler in front of a smooth backcountry-groove. An especially prominent element of this record and the entire John Butler Trio sound is the strong presence of rhythm, and not just limited to percussion instrumentation. The variation of texture and tempo give lots of life to the record and adds to the live sounding quality of how it was arranged.
Flesh & Blood is built on a structure of many different tones. Parts of the record have lighter melodies with carefully plucked guitar strings, others harbor the bluesy funk-driven edge that gives Butler the freedom to go in any tangent direction, musically. Songs like “Bullet Girl” and “Young and Wild” have a more reflective vantage point, and the two appear to have a similar underlying story found in the lyrics. The later of the two speaks of a relationship that is several degrees less conflictive and foolish than the former, which has more destructiveness in its themes; each with different musical styles that represent different emotion. Flesh & Blood as a whole is an authentic extension of John Butler’s life experience in music and his personal life. The music that Butler continues to make has a deep connection with earthly roots and the people that walk the same soil that he and other musicians share.
