HyperViolet
is a space. It is a destination. HyperViolet is the hollowness behind aching,
arching light glancing off half-hidden spires and metallic mountaintops. In HyperViolet,
Brooklyn-based saxophonist and electronicist Johnny Butler has found his
perfect medium, his perfect space within the sound of his own life. Combining
pop sensibilities with avant-garde yearnings, Butler has created a world within
a world, and it is a glorious place within which to get lost.
"It
is its own little eco-system, a forest of its own, growing with its own organic
rules," explains Butler. "I hate when music is in its box and that's
it. I hate conservative creative behavior. The album has an electronic angle
but I want it to sound real too though. I want real people playing organic
music."
The
result is a forty-four minute, hard-hitting tour-de-force that explores the
depths of depression, the ravages of creativity, the brilliance of
overexertion, and the final serenity of embracing closure. Whirling through
myriad musical environments, Butler and his band (bassist Michael Feinberg,
guitarist Jeff Miles, drummer Bram Kincheloe, alto
saxophonist JJ Byars, and
keyboardist Dov Manski -- along with
special guests including Kassa Overall, Raycee Jones, Tecla, Sister Sparrow, Todd Reynolds, and Jackson Kincheloe, and
mastering from Daddy Kev) paint in
strokes that cut deep, leaving the listener hanging over a precipice of musical
motion, waiting for the cliff edge to crumble.
That
mastery of time and timbre is no accident for the Seattle-born Butler, who as a
young man found himself drawn to the tension and passion of seemingly
unconnected genres of music. "Even though I grew up in the jazz world, I
used to judge the quality of any band based on how many people were
moshing," recollects Butler of those wild, early days. "If some band
was playing and no one was moshing, I would just walk out. Maybe I'm in the
wrong community, now. But at the right kind of gig I still get the occasional
guy going buck wild." That wildness lies at the heart of everything Butler
does. And now, after years giving himself to other people's projects --
including being a founding member of the Brooklyn-based soul rock band Sister
Sparrow & the Dirty Birds, plus accruing writing and arranging credits for
such artists as Beyoncé, on the Grammy Award winning Love on Top -- Butler is
ready to take his biggest step yet in bringing his unique, bridge-like ideas
and songs into the world.
"I
have this crazy creative energy that if it is not getting used, it sort of
turns inward and becomes a self-destructive feeling. I was channeling all of
this emotional energy into all these songs and creating something out of it
rather than having it turned inward. I have to be doing this," Butler says
with a smile. "After committing myself to this music, to my own vision, I
had this crazy writing period where I was writing a ton of music. I wrote,
like, five hundred songs. Things for myself, chamber pieces, pieces for other
people, beats, remixes..."
Butler
was on a hot streak and began enlisting as many friends as he could to play and
collaborate on his overflow of ideas, which culminated in HyperViolet being recorded in
stages, with each musician adding their own special touch to Butler's initial
vision. "It's sort of like each person came in and spilled their guts.
Everyone was so honest and vulnerable. It made the record come to life in a way
I'd never imagined."
"Crossing
the River" and "Jump" both feature rapper Kassa Overall. The
former uses immense space to support Overall's syrupy flow. Incidental chatter
and Todd Reynolds'
ethereal violin push and pull the listener through the former's hazy reality
while the latter digs even deeper into the hip-hop realm. "I think Kassa
is exploring a lot of ideas that have to do with staying and going. Don't stay
or don't leave. It's all about trying to control the situation," says
Butler. "He thought he knew what he was writing but there is so much more
depth that I don't think he initially saw what had formed. You can hear the
process very clearly. You can hear Kassa drinking. I wanted that to be part of
it. That kind of stuff is my favorite: the seams of the music where you see the
canvas a little bit like Monet in his old age where you can see the
brushstrokes."
If
there's a tune on this album that can fill the dance floor it is "What It
Deserves." Butler uses beats and the charms of vocalist Tecla to provide a forum
to both riff and cut loose over a rising storm of percussion. "Crake's
Dream" is a pensive build-up of beeping keyboards behind the intricate
twists and turns of vocalist Bridget Davis' tightly
harmonized lead. The title is derived from Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel Oryx and Crake.
"Flipper Wants Out" was one of Butler's first tunes for the record
and features his former band-mates from Sister Sparrow. Jackson Kinechole's wheezing harmonica
appears to emanate from a Martian juke joint before vocalist Arleigh Kinechole snarls a firm
request for a little personal space. Butler's horns swirl with downtown
attitude, chomping at the air in tight formation.
HyperViolet is an
eclectic debut riddled with creative insights and original horn work with
Butler hanging in the back as often as he is in the spotlight. Each pluck of a
string and tap of a pad is given its own room to breathe in a space that can be
brimming with ideas. Butler knows that the all encompassing vibe only makes him
stronger so he is happy to share, soloing when it feels right and laying back
with an embracing pillow of thick harmonies and unexpected beats for friends
and band-mates.
With his
roots in the Pacific Northwest, his feet firmly planted in Brooklyn, his mind
turned towards strangely swirling lands, and his saxophone unsheathed and ready
to slay, Johnny Butler has -- with the
release of HyperViolet -- announced
himself as a true force in this musical landscape.
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