“Nearly four years after the release of Flesh & Blood, the legendary John Butler Trio is returning with a new album, HOME, reinventing their iconic sound with the title track.”

The great John Butler Trio have returned after nearly four years, announcing a new album and dropping the first track. While John Butler has retained his familiar position at the front of the band, the regular sound has been thrown aside for this release, and new sounds and genre influences have been woven into the piece.

The track immediately stands out from other John Butler Trio songs, using a trap-inspired beat, hip hop heavy drums and a roaring electric guitar. Butler has taken the raw, acoustic instrumentation of his blues-reggae sound and completely uprooted it from its musical foundations. Heavily distorted electronic synths blast over the RnB bassline before John Butler’s smooth vocal tones echo over the track. The lyrics present a significantly darker and more emotionally complex John Butler Trio. The opening lyrics “When the curtains are drawn, everybody has gone. I sit here all alone, all the bottles are dry” depict a sadness that we haven’t seen in previous, upbeat folk rock tracks. As the verse ramps up in intensity, with imagery like “And running from demons, while chasing the angels”, the music builds towards a cathartic climax. This is reached with John Butler’s emotional outcry of “Home” in the chorus, with thumping drums booming in the distance. While the track is a creatively refreshing take on the John Butler Trio sound, it is a testament to John Butler’s talent as an artist, rather than his skill as a musician. The track gives the world a uniquely dark depiction of Butler’s personal life, however the new genre influences limit and restrict John Butler’s personal musical ability, both as one of Australia’s best singers and as one of Australia’s best guitarists.

John Butler, speaking with musicfeeds.com, described the upcoming album, HOME, as “a journey of self-discovery and artistic rebirth.”

“Given the very personal subject matter of these new songs I pondered what it might mean to record in mainly a solo format for the first time ever,” he said.

“‘Home’ scratches the surface of the emotional and sonic landscape that eventually became the bedrock of the album.”

HOME is out on Friday, September 28.

@johnbutlertrio