Already a major star in his native Australia, John Butler is a rootsy singer-songwriter with a social conscience – but don’t let that put you off. Recorded at The Compound, his self-built studio in the heart of his hometown of Fremantle, Western Australia, and mixed in Melbourne’s famous Sing Sing Studios, April Uprising is JBT’s fifth album, the follow-up to 2007’s internationally best-selling Grand National.
By far his most commercial release to date, April Uprising is the album that could see his star rise a la Jack Johnson in Europe and America. His voice is distinctive, his brand new trio is tight (drummer Nicky Bomba and bassist Byron Luiters joined last year) and his guitar playing segues between styles so fluently you barely register what he’s doing. There are elements of rock, blues, funk and reggae all over the place, often within the same song.
He pretty much sets out his political stall with moodily caustic opening track, ‘Revolution’: “Pay off those losers we elect to lead/ Stealing from the mouths they’re meant to feed.” Several other songs take pot-shots at big business corporations and corrupt governments (most notably lead single ‘One Way Road’), but he’s no politically correct one-trick-pony.
‘Come on Now’ is energetically uplifting, ‘Ragged Mile’ is a memorably howled blues/folk song (to these ears he sounds uncannily like Tracey Chapman), while ‘Johnny’s Gone’ is a funky road trip number that’ll play well from Bangkok to Boston. On the funky ‘Don’t Wanna See Your Face’, he even outdoes the RHCP.
Featuring 15 tracks and coming in at just over an hour of music, April Uprising could’ve done with a little editing (‘Close To You’ is too MOR for comfort) . Even so, the last track ‘Star Is Born’ may well be prophetic.