The original intention of the Builders and the Butchers was to make funeral music, but on the way to the cemetery something changed. An album, like any piece of art, is an artifact of a time. In a world where the process of listening to and obtaining music has never been cheaper or easier, vinyl is a last hold out. You can tell when you're holding the weight of wax in your hand, that you're connected to what you are doing. The first Builders and Butchers record is also an artifact of a time.
Recorded in the living room of a house on SE Division St. in Portland, Oregon in 2007. It was recorded with no expectation, just wanting to document the songs folks had been gathering to sing along to since our first shows in the fall of 2005. The songs having been played only on the street up to that time. At those shows anyone who showed up was handed an instrument and quickly made part of the band. During the recording we attempted to bring that organic singalong rowdiness of the live show into the recording. We brought in about 20 close friends for a Sunday morning booze soaked choir session. We made sure that every instrument of the recording was made of wood and powered by a musician, there are no electric instruments and hardly any effects on this record.
Track Listing:
The Night
Red Hands
Spanish Death Song
Black Dresses
Bottom of the Lake
The Gallows
Bringin' Home the Rain
The Coal Mine Fall
Slowed Down Trip to Hell
The Night Pt. 2
Ten Miles Wide
Find Me In The Air