The Voluntary Butler Scheme

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Key tracks:

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  1. Trading Things In
  2. Hot Air Balloon Heart
  3. Multiplayer
  4. Tabasco Soul

Label:

Description:

Buoyant, quirky Summertime pop from a master of kitchen sink poetry.

This light-hearted but heart-warming one-man band delivers lyrically vivid English-summer pop reminiscent of Ray Davies and Jarvis Cocker at their best. On his first three singles, Rob Jones aka The Voluntary Butler Scheme unleashed a set of songs that reminded you of every song you have ever loved, and broke your heart with their bubblegum poetry. Now he is back with more musical treats as he releases his amazing debut album already getting props after plays on Radios 1, 2 and 6, XFM and MTV. There is no doubt that he is on the cusp of becoming huge with catchy pop hooks, a home-made sound and heartfelt yearning lyrics delivered with his tongue firmly in cheek. 

“Multiplayer” has indie-pop hit written all the the way through it, a raw northern soul groove with great backing vocals and the bitter-sweetly sung message that “love is a game ...I want to play with you”.  Fantastic new single “Tabasco Sole” displays his ingeniously homegrown lyrics with a Jacksons style hook taking some superb pop moments and giving them a contemporary slant to freshen up the past with a wry smile (“Put your Chuck Berry records that sound the same in a box underneath your bed.”)
“Trading Things In” displays ambitiously realised harmonies, and a pleasingly shabby arrangement, it recognises the truly defining symptoms of love and devotion; Broccoli, running shoes and bad MP3 playlists, and contains the classic kitchen sink declaration of longing, “just like coffee and tea, I need you regularly”.  The country stylings of “Hot Air Balloon Heart”, recall Hank Williams with a plaintive slide guitar solo recorded the same day Rob learned to play the instrument, it spins classic songwriting into new, surreal and otherworldly shapes - “I’ve been dreaming of you so often, makes my hot air balloon heart soften…”

Things to watch:

Releases we represent:

  • Trading Things In | EP | 2008
  • Multiplayer | Single | 2009
  • Tabasco Sole | Single | 2009
  • At Breakfast, Dinner, Tea | Album | 2009

Quotes:

"A wonderful debut." The Sunday Times

"Promises of devotion, effortlessly charming." NME

"Pristine, bright textures and chuck-it-all-in instrumentation...could be very popular indeed among fans of summery, slightly odd, quintessentially British pop." The Guardian Guide

“Infectious and charming, one-man-band Rob Jones is like a mix of Badly Drawn Boy and Brian Wilson’s more acid-fried work...Utterly endearing" Q

"Bubblegum, call-and-response Motown, manufactured in the Midlands and as sweet as candy." The Sunday Times

"A slice of Summer Pop" Artrocker

Tracks included on the following samplers: