Album Notes

Upon hearing Salim Nourallah’s beautiful production work on the Old 97’s Blame it on Gravity Buttercup decided to court Mr. Nourallah as a producer for their 6th album. After their first club date together in Dallas, Salim was convinced - saying that he wanted to try to capture the spontaneous, quirky nature of their live show. He pushed the band to record and keep as many live tracks as possible in the studio. The resulting record, The Weather Here, veers between folky casual to painfully intimate. It is a spare, well-captured recording that exudes an underlying tension beneath its mellow, slightly southern sound.

The opening song, “It’s in the Way” laments the passing of two friends, Ram Ayala and Doug Morgan, that ran a club in San Antonio where Buttercup rehearsed. The lyric is from the perspective of a singing scar, creaking out a soft encomium to these dear friends and San Antonio musical landmark, Tacoland. Opening the album sadly and softly, “It’s in the Way” sets the tone for an album celebrating the spirit of place; past and present. Songs such as “Madrid, Oh No,” “Superior,” and “Kite” are born from their own unique locations, but possess the universal feeling that comes from experiencing something deep and endearing only to have it slip away.

While working on “Hot Love” (Buttercup’s 2006 full-length CD) producer Mark Rubinstein mentioned to singer Erik Sanden that “all good songs are about artifacts and geography.” That phrase stuck with Erik and became the early working title of Buttercup’s new record. “Artifacts Remain” described a collection of songs about spirit of place, loss, and the objects left behind after people and places have disappeared. Later, while creating the cover art, artist Chris Sauter suggested changing the title to “The Weather Here.” A literally ‘atmospheric’ phrase, “The Weather Here” seemed a more immediate title on the nature of specific surroundings – to the emotional weather that surrounds a particular place. Recorded in 3 long weekends during the fall of 2008 in Dallas, The Weather Here is full of soft vocal interplay and tight ensemble work. Nourallah pulled some incredible performances out of the band, but was especially pleased by the singing performances from Buttercup, a group which prides itself on it’s vocal-centric sound.