Butcher Brown’s Letters from the Atlantic has landed. The band has guests Yaya Bey, Victoria Victoria, Leanor Wolf, Nicholas Payton, and more to their Solar Music followup. LFTA is hazy and atmospheric but still very much grounded in earthier grooves from their jazz, funk, soul, and hip-hop roots. They even pay tribute to house music DJs like Theo Parrish with the smart sonic layers of “Montrose Forest.” The title is a reference to their travels up and down the East Coast and Europe. Their range of sounds includes covers of late saxophone god Wayne Shorter’s “Infant Eyes” and “Dinorah Dinorah,” which was originally recorded by jazz guitarist George Benson. Both men used jazz as their base and expanded their sound and they form parts of Butcher Brown’s lineage along with so many others like the rapper Guru. The quintet is going on tour March 29th in support of Letters from the Atlantic, with the first show in Chicago and they wrap things up in Los Angeles at the end of April. Tickets are still on sale now.
