Butch Walker - Sycamore Meadows
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RIYL
Marvelous 3The Honorary Title
Pete Yorn
Tracklist
1. The Weight of Her2. Going Back/Going Home
3. Here Comes the...
4. Ponce de Leon Ave.
5. Ships in a Bottle
6. Vessels
7. Passed Your Place, Saw Your Car, Thought of You
8. The 3 Kids in Brooklyn
9. Summer Scarves
10. A Song for the Metalheads
11. Closer to the Truth and Farther from the Sky
12. ATL
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Butch Walker is a veteran musician who has helped several modern artists create hits with his songwriting and producing capabilities. Even with his ability to create pop gems for other artists, he’s always fallen a little short on his solo work. While none of it is necessarily a miss, it isn’t quite a hit either. With Sycamore Meadows, Butch’s fourth album, he may have finally hit the nail right on the head.
Tragedy doesn’t always mean art, but it can often help quite a bit. Butch Walker’s compound in southern California recently burned down and with it went a majority of his belongings. This incident is a strong motif in Sycamore Meadows, even inspiring the name of the album. Going beyond the theme of loss, Walker has created an upbeat album that is easily his most diverse yet. Each song stands well alone and carries its own unique strength. There’s rarely much straying from the realms of pop and rock, but Walker flaunts his talent to write piano ballads, acoustic ditties, and straight-up rock songs as well as the best of them.
The music is full of pop sensibility, but it also carries a level of talent that sets Walker a cut above your average modern artist. While the songs are simple in structure, as good pop songs should be, there are moments where Walker will indulge a bit and show that he knows his way around the guitar. A good example is his guitar work in the song “Closer To the Truth and Further From the Sky”, one of the more grand scale songs on the album.
You’d be hard-pressed to find another seasoned veteran like Walker who is able to write songs that break the boundaries of age specific music. It’s the kind of album kids, teens, and adults alike can all enjoy and appreciate. The lyrical content is nothing short of relatable, and the concept of loss is something each one of us has felt.
With Sycamore Meadows, Butch Walker has crafted yet another great album and even shown some improvement from previous work. If he keeps up this level of consistency then it’s guaranteed he’ll be releasing album after album for quite some time. If that doesn’t work out, though, he has quite a reputation as a producer to fall back on.
--Dant Rambo
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Columbus, Ohio
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