2220 is pleased to host Anna Butterss to celebrate the release of their second solo album Mighty Vertebrate, on International Anthem. Butterss's live ensemble features Josh Johnson (sax), Gregory Uhlmann (guitar), and Ben Lumsdaine (drums). Opening the night will be a solo set by Madison Cunningham, and Jeff Parker will DJ.
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Mighty Vertebrate is the second solo album and International Anthem debut from Anna Butterss. The Adelaide-born bassist / composer has been a first call for LA tour and studio work since relocating there in 2014, racking up credits with notables across the experimental, jazz, and pop worlds alike, working with everyone from Makaya McCraven to Phoebe Bridgers to Jeff Parker to Jason Isbell, as well as being a member of the proto-trance quintet SML.
“I had just gotten off of a bunch of touring at the end of 2022 and just wanted to write music,” says Butterss. “The best way for me to do that, I’ve found, is to set myself a discreet and focused task."
The music itself reflects that structure beautifully. The tracks on Mighty Vertebrate were tightly composed and melodically realized by Butterss well in advance of production concerns, a sharp disengagement from the improvise-edit-reconfigure composition strategy used on their debut.
Here Butterss reconvenes a group of trusted longtime collaborators to bring their compositions to fruition: Ben Lumsdaine (drums, guitar, production), Josh Johnson (sax), and Gregory Uhlmann (guitar), plus a guest appearance from legend Jeff Parker. The breadth and scope of the results might have been difficult to achieve otherwise. From the Robbie-Shakespeare-in-groove-mode intro to the album opener “Bishop” to the spacious cinematic doom of “Seeing You”, there is a lot to wrangle into one cohesive concept. On Mighty Vertebrate, Butterss and crew do just that.
