The Butcher by Paul Mosley and the Red Meat Orchestra

A light house fails, a love is lost.
A darkness spreads and whispers 'hey, people are idiots. You should take charge of this place'...

And so the Butcher rises. Keeping his island isolated and every soul under his control, feeding his machines, turning the big wheels round and round, farting out... who knows what?

Will the work of two conflicting scientists, one gazing up into the stars, the other digging down into the past uncover more to life than the Butcher's 'Shadows On The Wall' to bring light - and hope - back to the island?

With a full supporting cast of sentient skeletons, drunken sailors, butcher birds and devil dogs 'the Butcher' is a unique ghost story told in songs bringing together an amazing collection of folk and roots talent from around the globe with a junk yard orchestra, a ripping, bloody yarn, some cracking songs and a hell of a lot of instruments...

Paul Mosley is 'the young man'/'The Butcher'
Jamie Lawson is 'the star-gazer'
Esther Dee is 'the scientist'
Sophie Bradley is 'the downtrodden'
Darren Allford is 'the defeated'
David Mosley is 'the drunken sailor'
Catherine Earnshaw is 'the birds'
and
Josienne Clarke is 'Delores'

After an exceptional reception to Paul Mosley’s last album and debut for Folkwit Records, Paul has taken his creativity up another notch tending lovingly to ‘The Butcher’ – his folk opera over the past two years, to reveal what is in fact his seventh solo record. Featuring a stunning 20 songs, with 20 plus musicians from six different countries ‘The Butcher’ is an epic ghost story told in songs.

Taking inspiration from Nilsson’s ‘The Point’, Kate Bush’s ‘The Ninth Wave’ and especially Anais Mitchell’s ‘Hadestown’, Paul set out to create something that would bring together his years of singer/songwriter experience and the new skills he has developed as a composer for theatre. A ‘piece’ that was more than the sum of its parts, that could have layers of ideas, a whole world to explore within the songs. It’s that ‘the more you listen, the more you hear’ thing.

No stranger to the sort of cult following that comes with a prodigious career having been part of major alt folk group Moses whose fans ranged from Graham Coxon to Shane MacGowan among the rest of the UK’s music cognoscenti in the early naughties.

Self-taught and infamously ever-grinning Paul’s joy to be playing in this massive musical toy box is infectiously evident throughout his latest opus ‘The Butcher’. Be sure to witness:

• The ‘Nick Drake meets ELO’ strings of Jamie Lawson/Esther Dee’s character establishing duet ‘The World is flat’!
• The growling bass saxophone colliding with xylophone and an actual kitchen sink on ‘A Lighthouse part 2’!
• An army of treated glockenspiels, euphoniums and flamenco guitar conjuring the whirring and chopping of the butcher’s machines on the title track!
• The way the perfect radio 2 balladry of Jamie Lawson singing 'She Has A Mystery' morphs into full on improv free jazz instrumentalism
• Every impeccable note Josienne Clarke sings!

Over 2 years in the making 'The Butcher' is an epic, glorious thing and it is finally here - enjoy!

Tracklist

1.	A Lighthouse	2:56

2.	A Soul To Save	3:34

3.	The World Is Flat	4:25

4.	Introducing...	1:28

5.	The Butcher	4:25

6.	Shadows On The Wall	4:00

7.	She Has A Mystery	3:13

8.	Chattering Birds	1:52

9.	You Don't Need Love	2:39

10.	Satellites	3:05

11.	A Lighthouse part II	4:25

12.	My Armour	4:49

13.	No Hound Dog On Your Trail	4:28

14.	Nothing In the Desert	3:30

15.	Darkness	1:37

16.	Galaxies	3:49

17.	Light	2:02

18.	The Rage	4:57

19.	Wolves	3:47

20.	The Fury	4:37

Credits

released May 27, 2016

Featuring Jamie Lawson, Esther Dee, Josienne Clarke, Bird Radio, Catherine Earnshaw, Darren Allford, Moses, Carolyn Mark, The Red Meat Orchestra,

License