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Genres are once again effortlessly obliterated in the music of the impossible-to-classify Richmond, Va.-based Butcher Brown, whose fifth album in as many years, Letters From the Atlantic (Concord) is a deeply felt sonic tour of influences hailing from up, down and all around the Atlantic Ocean.
The journey begins at sunrise on Virginia Beach with seagulls chirping over a caffeinated drum-and-bass beat, while a superlative flute melody beckons you to a club in New York’s Alphabet City on “Unwind” and Victoria Victoria’s vocals evoke the languid sweet nothings of Sade on “Hold You.” “Something New About You” is a futuristic spin on the yacht rock classic “Steal Away” by Robbie Dupree, with guest vocalist Neal Francis’ falsetto chorus sharp enough to crack open a tall, cool Budweiser in Michael McDonald’s honor.
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The head-nodding R&B grooves are indeed in the heart on the sitcom theme-adjacent “Dinorah Dinorah” and the Yaya Bey-featuring “I Remember,” and in an even sweeter nod to the stans, “Backline” seems to be a musical sibling to “Frontline” from Butcher Brown’s 2020 LP #KingButch, sharing the latter’s fluid guitar figure but subbing out its deft horn solos for waves of smiley electric piano.
The synth-washed, downtempo house delight “Ibiza” is an admittedly naked ploy to get booked in the titular Spanish dance music mecca, and trumpeter Nicholas Payton’s righteous notes on “Montrose Forest” conjure the chillest of funk. It’s only during the last minute of closer “Infant Eyes” when Butcher Brown finally tip their jazz hands, this time in the direction of the late Wayne Shorter with a shot of silky sax, a spritz of upright bass and a chaser of closing time-vibes upright piano noodling. Another, please.
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