Review: Butcher The Bar

Butcher The Bar - For Each A Future Tethered (Morr Music)
Please be very careful when you play this. It’s so light and breezy you might miss the purity of it. As the music floats out of the speakers and (hopefully) into your life, the danger is it might just breeze past, and escape the less discerning listeners amongst us, and if we’re being honest that can be all of us. So, be warned... just in case.

Although there are a multitude of instruments playing on various tracks, including brass, none of it ever takes away from the weightlessness of the music; this airy but warm approach that Joel Nicholson (aka Butcher The Bar) has adopted on “For Each A Future Tethered”. And yet it doesn’t lack for substance. I’m reminded of Scandinavian singer-songwriters (Joel is based in Manchester… ) who sing light but wholehearted songs in a similar vein - Jens Lekman springs to mind, and maybe Thomas Dybdahl, too. Underlying his work there’s perhaps a hint of Elliott Smith, but without the melancholia.

“For Each A Future Tethered” is a set of songs that can be entered into at any point, at any time, such is the poignancy and melodic strength of the music. There are no real surprises here, just 11 songs that provide a warm blanket of sound for you to indulge yourself in, and enjoy the moments of consistency the album provides. Thank you for this very pleasant and very gentle surprise.
www.facebook.com/ButcherTheBar
Kev A.