Buttercup
The Weather Here (Bedlamb)San Antone’s loopy-pop lads return with a romp through the elements. Twelve songs map out The Weather Here, the quartet’s third LP, helmed by Old 97’s producer Salim Nourallah, and the view is one of repose, reflection. Rarely does the tempo change from song to song – there are few guitar solos or sonic flourishes – but Buttercup’s never been about flash. Instead, the lyricism almost outweighs the music. We get the hey-hey chorus of “It’s in the Way” and piano trot of “Kite,” but when singer/guitarist Erik Sanden tests his inner David Byrne on “Superior,” things finally start moving: “Mermen yawn, they fiddle with their cell phones.” Elsewhere, he relates, “I’ve seen this white graveyard sunlight on a Spanish beach, on a girl’s bare thigh.” It’s moments like those that give a splash of color and movement to The Weather Here‘s relatively calm waters.
This article appears in August 14 • 2009.