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Andy

This Heel 🇸🇪 - 'The Butter Thief' (single)

I was supposed to be updating the NMR Playlist today, as well as posting some other completed reviews, and finishing my Ocean of Lotion Album Review, but there's nothing like a new This Heel release to distract my attention away. It was released just this afternoon.


The first point to make about this new track is that it sounds really weird if you play it on Bandcamp, whilst also accidentally playing The Last Runner-Ups through Spotify in the background on the same computer. I doubt if many of you were planning on doing this, but for a while I did slightly doubt the new musical direction Martin Månsson Sjöstrand appeared to be heading, which has always been leftfield, but has never quite sounded like he was trying to outdo Karlheinz Stockhausen for unlistenable compositions.


Having said that it is a curious track, but still highly enjoyable, with a repeated guitar line offering the foundation, slowly layering on guitar and percussion. The sparse instrumentals throw the attention on to the lyrics, which as always focus on the little things, in this case 'The Butter Thief'. But who is The Butter Thief, and are they actually thieving butter? This is of course where Sjöstrand's lyrics are no help whatsover in solving the mystery.


"Winds of glass stroking the coat / Birds can fly and so can I / To be born on the wrong side of the wall"


And then there's the "Candy Keys?" I love trying to work out his lyrics, but I can't quite fathom this one out. I'd get fellow writer Harri on the case, she's our expert on lyrical interpretation, but she's currently cruising up the Waikato River towards Hamilton. Thankfully there's also a Martin Månsson Sjöstrand Trio release called LJUDET to get stuck in to, which is (almost) entirely instrumental, so I'll also get listening to that too.


Anyway 'The Butter Thief' is another very welcome addition to the This Heel catalogue.


Find them on Bandcamp.

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