Brandon Butler Lucky Thumbs by: Helen Stasa Tue:18-Sep-07 Label: Gypsy Eyes Records Year: 2007 WB rating 61 out of 100

Lucky Thumbs (2007), the second solo album from Brandon Butler, is a curious beast. It resists classification into any of the established musical genres, and combines a wide variety of influences and styles. At times it sounds like a country recording, especially on songs such as ‘Never on a Sunday’; on other occasions, the music drifts from folk to rock.

This isn’t really surprising considering Butler’s own disparate musical background. He started out as the frontman for emo outfit Boy’s Life (years before bands like Good Charlotte made emo popular), before moving on to join indie rockers Farewell Bend. He has also dabbled in punk and hardcore, with his previous solo album, Killer on the Road (2004) being produced by Fugazi’s Brendan Canty, who also appears on Lucky Thumbs as drummer and producer.

Lucky Thumbs is a more mellow album than Butler’s previous offerings, with a strongly traditional folk sound. To this end, Butler enlists the help of musicians such as Amy Domingues (keyboards), Jonah Takagi (bass), and Winston Yu (violin), whose contributions give a laid back tinge to the songs.

There are two excellent songs on Lucky Thumbs, which alone would (almost) justify investing in the album. The first standout track is ‘Happy Sound (Dark and Pretty)’, which clearly shows Butler’s skill in utilising different instruments. The song begins with an outstanding introduction, Butler strums out the melody on the acoustic guitar, with a xylophone gently chiming in the background.

However, what really sets the song apart is Winston Yu’s violin playing, which gives the track a vaguely Celtic flavour, and emphasises the air of melancholy and unfulfilled desire. The violin and the acoustic guitar compliment each other perfectly, with the guitar providing the solid background, and the violin the artistic flourishes, as Butler sings about the “happy sound” that gets “louder and louder/ when you’re not around.” Although it’s somewhat rare to hear violin and acoustic guitar combined, Butler and other artists such as Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill show how effectively the two instruments can be used together.

‘Sparks’, the first song on the disc, is another strong track showing Butler’s skill in weaving together a variety of different instruments to create a coherent whole. ‘Sparks’, the most rock-driven track on the album, begins with a powerful electric guitar riff, before drums, harmonica and finally vocals are added. Butler sings both lead and backing vocals, and his singing brings to mind the work of Elliott Smith, whose double tracked vocals and brilliant use of harmony made his albums so distinctive.

Unfortunately, aside from ‘Sparks’ and ‘Happy Sound (Dark and Pretty)’, the rest of Lucky Thumbs is rather uninspiring and mediocre. The remaining tracks are almost indistinguishable in terms of both lyrics and melody. Butler relies heavily on religious imagery on tracks such as ‘Heaven Help Us’, where he sings about “the devil himself standing in the front yard” and the nails in Jesus’ hands, filling the remainder of the song with clichés about “knee jerk reactions” and “shots in the dark.”

Additionally many of the tracks suffer from being too long. Although there are only eight songs on Lucky Thumbs, most of them exceed six minutes in length. Whilst one or two epic tracks can be effective in adding variety to an album, the effect is lost when almost every song on the album is of such proportions. Because Butler’s songs rely heavily on his excellent guitar playing, the longer tracks tend to trail off into lengthy solos. Whilst Butler’s playing is impressive, the extended solos come across as self-indulgent doodling, rather than meaningful parts of the songs.

Brandon Butler is a talented guitarist and songwriter. His guitar playing is excellent, and he shows a great skill in combining different instruments to create a rich sound. However, the lack of variety in his song writing, and his tendency to focus on six minute epic tracks, rather than shorter, sharper, songs are major weaknesses. If Butler could produce more tracks of the quality of ‘Happy Sound (Dark and Pretty)’ and ‘Sparks’, he would be a force to be reckoned with. Yet in the meantime, his work merges with the pack.