Grand Marais by buttercup

This record is an experiment in minimalism done over the course of 3 days in early 2014. The songs were arranged for acoustic guitar, electric bass and voice. Danny Reisch added psychedelic washes of echoes and reverbs, but the foundational sounds all solely come from these three sources. At the time, Buttercup was calling itself "Grand Marais" and wearing all black while drinking absurd amounts of green tea. They stopped talking on stage, and remained stone-faced silent between songs. Instead, they employed a white board to write provocative messages to the audience.

Lyrically, the songs delve into the depression that Erik found himself in after the death of his father. This was a dark space that Joe soon joined him in, when his own father passed away, soon thereafter. And odie., being a sympathetic soul, also embraced this expression of grief thru music. Perhaps the most poignant picture of the struggle comes in “Morrissey for Company,” which offers a ridiculous conceit—a stricken soul seeking relief by obsessively and incessantly listening solely to Morrissey for the duration of a whole year. Pro tip: doesn't help.

These recordings were kept in the Buttercup vault because at the time they were deemed at "too raw" and “flat-out depressing." Now, after 8 years of waiting, these songs will finally see the light of day July 14, 2023.

Buttercup was: odie., Erik, and Joe.

burnished super melodists from Texas

wearebuttercup.com