Anna Butterss – b, el b, g, synth, fl, drum machine; Ben Lumsdaine – d, per, g, lap steel, drum programming; Gregory Uhlmann – g, effects; Jeff Parker – g (3).
When a noted instrumentalist with an interest in jazz makes a record, there are certain expectations. Anna Butterss has built an amazing reputation through the work they’ve done for other musicians, and when they played in Flea’s band for his recent Tiny Desk show, he introduced them as the person he went to when he needed someone much better than him to give him some bass lessons. A lot of players in that situation would take a solo release as an opportunity to let rip. So, write some tunes, assemble a who’s who of the current session and improv scene, set up in the studio and press record, right? Wrong. Trying to carve out the creative headspace to make an album (or painting, or novel, or constructed language, or other large scale artwork) from the crowded centrifugal churn of a career in any kind of freelance industry can be a Sisyphean task, and Butterss approached that for their second solo release by setting limits – ‘I’m going to make a song where the bass doesn’t function in the role of a bass’, or ‘I’m going to work on this for an hour and then I’m going to stop’, or ‘I’m going to start with a drum machine’. The songs that resulted are very focussed and distinct, but there’s a coherence to Mighty vertebrate that comes from the fact that this is all groove-forward, and built more around texture than melody. The players are masters, but there’s very little blowing and few flashy fills: their skill comes across in rhythmic control, tone production, and contextual sensitivity. This is a self-effacing album, that takes seriously its responsibility to do the things for its audience that a simple pop record might, or a movie soundtrack, or a string quartet. It’s not about the playing but the listening, and it’s a truly beautiful experience.
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