CAM BUTLER - Go Slow

"Go Slow" by Cam Butler is a lovely listening experience, six long compositions that could be labeled as post-rock, just to give an idea and spoil the listening for you.

The star of the record is a hazy, mellow guitar din that unwinds in lethargic progressions, advancing without ever exploding, painting enveloping psychedelic glimmers. A silvery ray held up by orchestral overlays that are never redundant, well calibrated and devised to revitalize the sound whenever the forced repetition of the guitar patterns brings about a shift in auditory perception, turning sound into pure sign, emptied of any meaning whatsoever.

When it's a host of violins leading the dance, the result is even more evocative, as in the epic near-6-minute "Today Troubles Seem Far Away".

Morricone-esque landscapes in "Shenandoah", with a martial drum march giving the sound full meaning, later enriched by a tasty, slightly dissonant melodic interplay.

The rhythms are almost always measured, which helps reinforce a sense of estrangement, like music composed to accompany desert mirages; confirmation comes from "Go Slow", which advances slow and sinuous, always on the verge of exploding but constantly folding back on itself. The only track to break this virtuous psychedelic languor is the opening "Brothers & Sisters", just slightly more rhythmic, riding on alternating orchestral spasms that suddenly seem to overwhelm an already fairly sustained electric pace.

Despite the length of the compositions, the album is a pleasure to listen to, since it decidedly bets on melody, and even the minimalism of "Broken City" isn't the least bit wearying, never cold or an end in itself, but always comfortably enjoyable; the album's masterpiece, however, comes at the end, the gorgeous "So Long Friend", with violins painting a scene of pure springtime poetry. A fine record, though half a point off for the cover, which is fairly hideous and suggests music of an entirely different genre and quality.

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30/04/2026