Album Review

Stuart Warwick – The Butcher’s Voice

• 9th Jan 2013

Stuart Warwick started creating music under the alias Jacob’s Stories back in 2003. His new album, the second under his own name, is being released as a digital download and limited edition ‘pop up’ self-released CD on Laugh Riot Records. There will also be a vinyl edition through Faux Discx.

Warwick’s music is largely piano based, the focus on his strong, pure vocal delivery, which is almost hypnotic at times. With a good range (at times so high as to sound female) and a theatrical style, Warwick delivers his often clever and biting lyrics with panache. There is a real sense of theatre and style to the music, at times dark yet always with a wry humour evident.

A recurring theme of gender identity runs through almost every track on The Butcher’s Voice. Man With A Pussy is perhaps the most obvious example, a song that could be an ode to the transgendered. Closing track The Fairer Sex begins with a sample from a cabaret artist stating that there is no such thing as gender, before a slow and achingly sad song tells of a man’s yearning to be a woman.

Title tack The Butcher’s Voice is perhaps the pick, with a more uptempo, almost pop sound and some lovely harmonies. Dame Binned Cow is another with a bigger sound and it works well. Dreams Of A Tomato Can is very different, with a circus like feel to its rhythms and a much more lively tempo. And there is also a beautiful instrumental track, Melancolonica, where piano and strings combine to create an atmospheric sadness that simply doesn’t need words to get its message across.

There are some fine moments in other tracks too. Birds That Don’t Fly features a jazzy piano sound while Crush fades into a whistle before ending in an ambient drone. And the opening track, and lead single, Sailors has perhaps the best vocal performance from Warwick, his high tone perfectly contrasting with the piano and slow drums.

The Butcher’s Voice is a thought provoking album with some fine lyrical content, and it sounds good too. Stuart Warwick’s music is stylish and at times dark, but always entertaining. It’s an album well worth taking the time to study.

Venue: The Butcher’s Voice
Support Band: Faux Discx/ Laugh Riot Records