JOHN BUTLER TRIO
Flesh & Blood
Jarrah Records
The John Butler Trio return after a four-year hiatus with their sixth studio album, Flesh & Blood. Melding the musical influences of band members John Butler, Nicky Bomba (most recently helming Melbourne Ska Orchestra and since succeeded by Grant Gerathy) and Byron Luiters, this album is a rollercoaster of rhythm, touching on acoustic rock, folk, blues and roots. The soul of Flesh & Blood – its very flesh and blood – was born on the Australian dirt road, and it shows.
From the tender notes of Spring To Come, Bullet Girl and Young And Wild to the rollicking blues explosion of Zebra-esque Livin’ In the City and Devil Woman, Flesh & Blood certainly doesn’t break new barriers for JBT but it is clearly a deeper, more layered sound to their earlier, acoustic-driven compositions. First single, Only One, is actually not one of the album’s strongest. However, it is a subtle introduction to a release that should produce several more memorable radio hits (keep an ear out for Devil Woman, Spring To Come and Blame It On Me).
It’s meetings of musical minds such as these that enable the creation of such an earnest, hopeful record. Earnest, in the sense that each song connects on so many levels and gathers momentum in your head upon each listen. Hopeful, that although some of these songs centre around depression, loss and addiction, this is a record truly connected to the human spirit and the many phases of evolution we all move through in our journey towards finding ourselves and our place in the world.
JEN WILSON
