There was a time when producers were continually redefining the boundaries of popular music, casually and breezily breaking down walls as they skipped from genre to genre. Over the years, the musical goalposts have shifted irrevocably and inevitably, with the sense of resolute independence all but vanishing. Tom Misch’s response, however, has been to bring it right back to the forefront.

That should be no surprise however – right from the start, Misch has always chosen the road less travelled. From picking up a violin at age three and training in the Suzuki method, to steadfastly releasing music on his own label Beyond the Groove, to breaking out as a full-fledged star with his critically and commercially hailed album “Geography” – which went Silver in the UK and scored him a cross-generational fanbase that includes Barack Obama – Misch is a shining example of how ploughing your own furrow, staying course and sticking to your guns can pay off in rich dividends.

It shows a constantly searching, ever evolving, experimentalist mind at work, keen to spend hours perfecting his craft while also happy (and canny enough) to let it take whatever form it chooses to take. Still fiercely DIY, still defiantly uncategorisable, his loose, mellifluous music reflects an upbringing soundtracked by everything from J Dilla to Otis Redding, Minnie Ripperton to John Mayer. He’s a curator, too, with his Real Good Shit playlists ushering in over 120k followers into his eclectic world.

In addition, he produces all his own music while producing tracks for Loyle Carner, Michael Kiwanuka, Jorja Smith and even John Legend. He followed up “Geography” with the sharp leftfield detour that’s “What Kinda Music”, a mostly improvised, beautifully collaborative project with jazz drummer Yussef Dayes, and he’s done it all with his integrity intact and curiosity undimmed.

If you think all that sounds like a recipe for commercial obscurity, you’d be dead wrong. If stats are your thing (and numbers don’t lie), you’d probably already know that Misch is a bona fide sensation: 5 million monthly listeners on Spotify. 1 billion streams across his catalogue. Sold out UK/EU and US tours, with 150,000 headline tickets sold globally. “What Kinda Music” also rode a wave of positive critical notices to number 4 in the UK charts on release. Not to mention the Holy Grail – admiration from formative heroes, with none other than Eric Clapton inviting him to play his Crossroads Guitar Festival in Dallas and John Mayer himself leaping up on stage to join Tom for a song.

Like any musician worth his salt, Misch defies any attempt to categorise or pigeonhole him. His preoccupation with the wholly immersive and visceral experience of music as opposed to tired old semiotics makes him gloriously flippant where particulars and details are concerned. When he talks about the shape his upcoming record will take, it’s not in terms of trends, but instead, sonics – he refers to the “warm, soulful sounds” of Al Greene and Aretha Franklin, and about how he can bring that to bear in the studio using analogue equipment, a shift partly inspired by his collaboration with Dayes.

Misch has a miraculous way of passing off the atmosphere and tension around him as all-enveloping, instantly earworming songs and making it seem purely accidental. He zigs when he should zag, turns left when he should veer right, and he absorbs a diverse range of influences and celebrates them fully and without cliché. This is our world through Tom’s eyes; listen on.

“So, what kind of music do you make?” This question is the bane of every musician’s existence because it requires that they shrink down the wide expanse of their creativity to an easily (mis)understood genre description.

No matter how vivid or elaborate the description, “show” will always be more powerful than “tell.” The words we use to describe music don’t encapsulate what the listener’s experiences as much as give context clues.

That’s why Butcher Brown – the multifaceted band from Richmond, Virginia – call their sound and their follow up to 2020’s #KingButch and their second release on Concord Jazz, Solar Music.

“Solar music” is not simply a description; it’s an invitation to listen and an invitation to feel.

Friends and bandmates Corey Fonville (drums), Andrew Randazzo, (bass), Morgan Burrs (guitar), Marcus “Tennishu” Tenney, (trumpet, saxophone, vocals) and Devonne “DJ Harrison” Harris (multi-instrumentalist) make music that is as diverse as their own varied tastes and backgrounds. It’s a seamlessly blended amalgam of sounds including jazz, hip-hop, rock, funk, R&B, alternative, soul, country, house, bossa nova, pop, and more. “We are the melting pot. We are the mix,” says Devonne. “I feel like that’s what we represent and that’s what this album represents.”

But Butcher Brown’s eclecticism isn’t for the sake of musical masturbation or to impress chin-stroking critics. Theirs is music of, and for, the people. “It’s music for everybody,” says Tennishu reflecting on how well-received they’ve been on stages across the globe. “You can see it on all kinds of different faces, young, old, big, small, short, tall, they all start dancing eventually. It’s literally music for the whole solar system.”

So how did this band of brothers make the sun come out on this new album? They challenged themselves to break from routine and old formulas. “[In the past] we’d make a record, like [2014’s] All Purpose Music and put constraints on what we do in the studio with the thought of the live show, thinking ‘let’s make this something that we can recreate at the show,’” explains Andrew. “We did that for a few records but then #KingButch was the one where we kind of departed from that idea and took more of a Sgt. Pepper … approach of, let’s just explore what we can present in the studio, even if it’s not something that we can pull off live.”

Realizing that listening to their albums and their live show are two distinct experiences unlocked a new level of creativity for the band. Now Butcher Brown could allow themselves to explore new sounds and approaches to songwriting and production. This new unbridled creativity informed their approach to making Solar Music over the course of many sessions in 2021 and 2022 at go-to studios Montrose Recording, Minimum Wage Studios, and their homebase Jellowstone.

Of course the sun is at the center of the solar system, giving us warmth, lighting our days and keeping the planet revolving around it. Similarly, when it came time to create Solar Music the band saw themselves at the center of their sound drawing in other like-minded musicians with gravitational pull.

What could have been an insular musical conversation between the five became a collaboration with some of their friends and faves including Oakland-bred wordsmith Nappy Nina (“Half of It”), hip-hop iconoclast Pink Siifu (“Eye Never Know,” “Run It Up”), East London rapper Jay Prince (“Move”), real-life guitar hero Charlie Hunter (“Espionage”) and more.

On the new album, Butcher Brown flexes their musicianship not only as players but also songwriters, producers, and composers collaborating with guests. “We can do everything on our own, sure, and we have done that for forever, but it’s also cool to have other people come in and get their perspectives,” explains Morgan. “Butcher Brown is evolving, maturing, and we’re growing as people,” adds Corey reflecting on the making of Solar Music.

The results of these collabs are extraordinary. Take the album’s first single, “I Can Say To You” for instance. “You’ll find your way/ tomorrow or today/ there’s nothing else I can say to you …,” sings guest Vanisha Gould in a voice that sounds both angelic and ancestral. “She has a voice that almost sounds like a sample, almost like Billie Holiday or something, ” says Corey who sought her out to feature on the song. “It’s got that warmth, like somebody’s mama singing to you.”

Warmth, light, and connection through a sound that like the sun itself is for everyone. Welcome to Solar Music.