They may live thousands of miles away, but more and more bands from the Pacific Northwest make music that conjures up images of crawfish, revival tents and the sweltering bayous of Louisiana. The Builders and the Butchers' "Devil Town," from Salvation Is a Deep Dark Well, finds the band dreaming of the South in song, with a swampy vision of the region unique to the songwriters' imaginations.
Singer Ryan Sollee and crew live up to their name as builders and butchers, as they add elements of rockabilly and zydeco to the mix while simultaneously deconstructing those same elements. But this isn't music built on theory: It's music to dance, sweat, weep and rejoice to. Like their spiritual ancestors in 16 Horsepower, The Builders and the Butchers' members don't so much make church music as deliver the sermons themselves.
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