DOWNLOAD: The Builders and the Butchers - "Lullaby" (from the disc Dead Reckoning)
DOWNLOAD: The Builders and the Butchers - "Rotten to the Core" (from the disc Dead Reckoning)

Last month, Portland's The Builders and The Butchers released their third disc, Dead Reckoning, which is a "Southern Gothic"-hued journey through ideas about the father and the son, early 1900s America, absolute good and evil, addiction, and religion. Vocalist Ryan Sollee said "[o]n this album, I really thought a lot about the end of the world and the dark times we live in, how the feelings we feel and the world we experience is not that different from 1930s America, and I thought about the music that was created at that time. This is where the inspiration for these songs originated."

The Builders’ songs aren’t quite the murder ballads of Nick Cave but they aren’t that far off with Ryan Sollee’s narrative stories of sin, salvation and the devil. Solle delivers his narratives with the passion and conviction of a Southern preacher but, with lyrics like “killing is better than living” (from “Lullaby”), this raw, emotional delivery crosses into the zealotry of the damned. Unfortunately, as Sollee noted, there are many parallels between the Great Depression of the 30’s and the current “Great Recession” and songs like “All Away”, “Rotten to the Core” and “Lullaby” highlight both the greed that caused these crashes and the resultant human suffering.





Dead Reckoning is a fairly stripped-down affair that predominately adds guitar and drums around Ryan Sollee's distinctive vocals. The band recorded this disc using the recording style of the 1950s and 1960s, where the magic of a song was captured by the band playing together live with minimal overdubbing so the urgency and intensity of the music pulls the listener into the darkness it inhabits. The disc ends on somewhat of an uplifting note with "Family Tree" which is the closest The Builders come to a full-band sound on this disc with its predominant up-beat percussion, subtly gospel organ and plucked guitar parts.

The Builders and The Butchers are playing a late show at Mercury Lounge on April 11th. Tickets are $10 and The Builders are sharing the bill with Damion Suomi & the Minor Prophets who go on at 9PM.

The Builders and The Butchers Tour Dates:

APR. 01 -- SPOKANE, WA, A CLUB
APR. 02 -- BOZEMAN, MT, FILLING STATION
APR. 04 -- MINNEAPOLIS, MN, 400 BAR
APR. 05 -- CHICAGO, IL, SCHUBAS
APR. 06 -- MADISON, WI, THE FREQUENCY
APR. 07 -- COLUMBUS, OH, THE SUMMIT
APR. 08 -- PITTSBURGH, PA, BRILLOBOX
APR. 09 -- BOSTON, MA, MIDDLE EAST
APR. 11 -- NEW YORK, NY, THE MERCURY LOUNGE
APR. 12 -- WASHINGTON, DC, RED PALACE
APR. 13 -- PHILADELPHIA, PA, MILKBOY
APR. 14 -- CHAPEL HILL, NC, LOCAL 506
APR. 15 -- ATLANTA, GA, THE DRUNKEN UNICORN
APR. 16 -- NASHVILLE, TN, THE BASEMENT
APR. 18 -- AUSTIN, TX, EMO'S (INSIDE)
APR. 19 -- DALLAS, TX, DOUBLE WIDE
APR. 20 -- WICHITA, KS, FISCH HAUS STUDIOS
APR. 21 -- ST. LOUIS, MO, OFF BROADWAY
APR. 22 -- LAWRENCE, KS, JACKPOT MUSIC HALL
APR. 23 -- DENVER, CO, HI-DIVE
APR. 24 -- SALT LAKE CITY, UT, URBAN LOUNGE
APR. 26 -- SAN DIEGO, CA, THE CASBAH
APR. 27 -- LOS ANGELES, CA, THE SATELLITE
APR. 28 -- SACRAMENTO, CA, BLUE LAMP
APR. 29 -- VISALIA, CA, CELLAR DOOR
APR. 30 -- SANTA CRUZ, CA, CREPE PLACE
MAY 01 -- SAN FRANCISCO, CA, BOTTOM OF THE HILL
JUN. 08 -- SEATTLE, WA, TBA
JUN. 09 -- PORTLAND, OR, DOUG FIR LOUNGE
JUN. 10 -- PORTLAND, OR, DOUG FIR LOUNGE

Links:
The Builders and The Butchers