Butcher the Bar’s 2008 debut album,
Sleep at Your Own Speed, held plenty of promise as young U.K. gent
Joel Nicholson rambled and crooned his way through a batch of low-key and melodic folk-pop unencumbered by any traces of hipness or irony. The follow-up
For Each a Future Tethered delivers on the promise of the first album; sounding richer and more assured,
Nicholson has seemingly fully absorbed the lessons of “quiet is the new loud” singers like
Elliott Smith and the guys in
Kings of Convenience. His tender voice fills the spaces between the layered acoustic guitars, horns, and muted percussion like warm bathwater, never rising above a whisper but always full of restrained emotion. Thanks to his vocals and the smoothly textured arrangements, it’s the kind of album that works on two levels. Firstly, it’s perfect background music for sleepy coffee shops or second-hand clothing shops. The richness of the highly polished sound, the gentleness of the vocals, and the overall feeling of warmth and peace that the record exudes is just right to give people a nice aural backdrop. There’s nothing threatening or demanding, and every song has enough of a melodic hook to have you unconsciously humming along, or enough of a peppy beat to get your foot tapping as you sip or shop. But if you throw on headphones, or listen alone late at night, there is a melancholic undercurrent to the album that feels real and unforced.
Nicholson never oversells his sadness, it’s more like a half-remembered ache than a raw wound, and the fully padded arrangements give him lots of support. Still, there is something there to connect with, and while to really reach the level of an
Elliott Smith or an
Iron & Wine he may need to scuff up the songs a little and make things a little less perfect and pristine, there is a real heart beating beneath the smooth surface, and that makes
For Each a Future Tethered a rewarding listen. ~ Tim Sendra