For Each A Future Tethered' is the second album from now Manchester based (via Rotherham) Joel Nicholson. As with his debut, 2008’s ‘Sleep At Your Own Speed’, ‘For Each..’ comes to you via the Berlin based Morr Music label (home to Lali Puna, Isan, Mum, Tarwater etc).
Morr Music discovered Joel via the My Space route (remember this is 2006) after he had sent out half a dozen emails out to labels he respected, not really expecting any kind of response. Morr liked what they heard and ask to hear more. Joel told them he had plenty more material (not strictly true), which resulted in an intense bout of writing and recording on his bedroom 8 track, resulting in his debut album which was followed by bouts of touring in Germany, Italy and Portugal.
This time around, the recording process was much less hurried with Joel traveling down to producer Barney Freeman’s studio in London when time and work schedules allowed:
”I live in Manchester and we did all the recording at Barney’s (producer) place in Richmond, London, meaning we could only work on average one weekend a month. In hindsight the time in between sessions was actually very beneficial as we could utilise the time apart to pick apart the material we’d recorded or songs we’d yet to record, allowing us time to change any details we weren’t entirely happy with, or fix parts that didn’t work. It would have been awful to release a record with tiny faults that we didn’t give ourselves time to consider, so for that reason im glad it took a year” .
The outcome of these sessions is a much more ambitious and rounded album than the first Butcher The Bar record, less enthralled to his primary influences and with a hugely melodic undertow and consistency to the whole album. Guitar and banjo have been augmented with trumpets, clarinet, piano, harmonium and and all sorts of improvised and toy instruments that were to hand in the studio. On one of the album’s highlights, ‘X’, Seasick Steve makes a guest appearance, a result not of industry contacts but instead a chance meeting in a Richmond Bar.
Perhaps out of step with current musical trends, ‘For Each’ may bring to mind comparisons with the likes of Elliott Smith, Badly Drawn Boy’s soundtrack work and a more penetrable Sufjan Stevens. Clocking in at just over 35 mins in length, ‘For Each’ is a hugely enjoyable listen that you may well find yourself becoming increasingly familiar with.
Butcher The Bar will be heading out on a month long European tour over October/November, the last week of which will be spent supporting Death Cab For Cutie in Luxembourg, Germany and the UK.
Check the video for 'Alpha Street West' here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7K2qTyWfuI
Butcher The Bar support Death Cab For Cutie UK dates;
16th November London Hammersmith Apollo
17th November Leeds Academy
18th November Birmingham Ballroom
19th November Glasgow Academy
