No Sky God - The Butcher

I always find it pretty interesting when musicians who usually work behind the scenes step out into the limelight. Stuart Watson, who’s helped craft the enchanting melodies of New York’s Larkin Grimm, Xiu’s Xiu’s Sam Mickens, and The Dirty Projectors’ Nat Baldwin (among others) finally releases his own work with the Brooklyn based Shatter Your Leaves label under the moniker No Sky God.

The band’s tunes are in stark contrast to most of what has been coming out of BK lately, concerned more with “songwriting and emotional directness than studio wizardry or genre-mashing strangeness,” Watson says. We can get on board with that.

The above track, “The Butcher,” is actually a cover of Grimm’s track of the same name, but Watson’s vocals brings an almost adolescent urgency to the track’s metaphysical angst, laid bare over James Marceda’s dreamy guitar. Listen to it, and know you’re not alone. 

NSG’s EP was released yesterday at noskygod.com. Pick it up digitally or on 12” vinyl.