Behind the largely self-taught American musician/composer, JEFFREY BÜTZER’S command of an impressive array of instruments (piano, glockenspiel, guitar, drums, xylophone, bass, banjo, autoharp, ocarina, melodica, accordion, harmonica…and the list goes on) lies an even greater penchant for experimentation and a deep appreciation of a wide range of musical styles. Seeming at first like a jolly dose of gypsy or circus music, his debut album with Lona Records, She Traded Her Leg quickly strikes a chord with its particular brand of percussive lo-fi minimalism tinged with cinematic overtones. And while such ‘baroque’ leanings may seem, to the uninitiated, as the unfocused wanderings of a musician with his finger in too many pies, it is only necessary to hear the play of melodic lines in tracks like “Wooden Giraffe” and “Broken Blunderbuss” to appreciate the uniqueness of Bützer’s musical voice. In the second half of the album (named “One Hundred and Sixty Three Black Bubbles”), things gradually start to take a more introspective turn, with the insertion of gamelan inspired rhythmic elements, violin and autoharp noises; culminating in the longest track of the album “Her Body is a Swamp”. From the circus to the heart of darkness—Bützer’s genre-defying album is hard to beat for its playfulness and sophistication.

It is an all too rare and precious kind of sound that reminds the listener how it was to be a child. It's even more rare when that sound can, in the same stroke, feel both immediate and new, suited in resonances that go beyond simple reminiscence and into revelation. And yet, with 'The Garden of Scissors,' the second full-length album from American composer Jeffrey Butzer from Lona Records, there is no single phrase among its 26 songs that does not radiate some wonderfully strange light. Taking off from where his acclaimed first record 'She Traded Her Leg' began, Jeffrey continues in his knack for the infectious melodic heart that makes up the backbone of his compositions, elucidating each therein with his impressive array of instrumentation including piano, accordion, organ, melodica, guitar, and more. Also notable is the addition of the beautiful vocals of Sanni Baumgartner of Dancer vs Politican on several tracks, whose incantatory German intoning gifts the record with a sultry mystique that in collaboration with Butzer's masterful layering become reminiscent of both Serge Gainsbourg and Ennio Morricone. Composed as a soundtrack for an also Butzer-penned screenplay of the same name, 'The Garden of Scissors' throughout maintains, by turns, tones of Jeunet, Cocteau, and Tati. At times delicate and enchanting as on 'Broken Clock Waltz,' other times more evocative of the haunted or surreal, as with the album's brilliant noir-Western-tinged second act in four pieces, titled 'Suit of Flies,' the whole of the album remains end-to-end enchanted, stuffed for every inch with light 'light that might open doors inside your body' light that will surely, in time, make you young.

The Mongolia Song
(inspired by a mongolian folk song “Nana nana NaaSi”)

One generation goes and another comes,
but the earth remains forever.

Sun rises and sun sets,
hurries back to where it rises.

The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,

All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.

Rain falls on us, without visions,
darkness, without divination.

the skies resounded with thunder
we trembled with fear

But the sun will come to you,
With the mighty light. Shining Brightness.

he will set rainbows after rain.
Now we all sing:

Nana nana NaaSir
Shuder Shuder Tsasai
Naisa Naisa NaaSir
La de qvota tooleey

Come come come sun
Clouds go away
Come come my friend
Let’s play under the sun.

Tracklisting:

1. False Alarm - 喜二
2. The Lee's - Smoking on the Shoulders of Giants
3. 黃衍仁 - 轉念 始於足下寸土
4. 神奇膠 - 我明明生勾勾 點解嚟活化我
5. Superday - 八月十五
6. Squamk - 後知後覺
7. No One Remains Virgin - 心繫鳩國
8. Jing Wong - Muted Singer
9. the secret lovers project – 我們的遷徙
10. 林阿P - 我等在街上籌旗
11. 蹙 - 基本訴求
12. Hard Candy - A Word Starting With "F"
13. Pusshi Ta-chi - 領匯歌
14. The Running Deer - 80後:我們沒有得選
15. Bjorn - my home; my loan
16. 生番present: 花*靚clan - 屋邨女
17. The Chaostones - Sedimental Clamour
18. Forget the G - Prologue
19. 在草地上 - 別站著
20. 郭達年 - 我知道