Buster Sledge’s second single from their coming release, “Warm and Stupid”, is a Sadgrass slow-dance-favorite to be enjoyed in solitude, alone onthe dance floor. At four minutes and fiftyseven seconds, there’s just about enough time to reflect on some of your most recent worst decisions.
Blushing is a physiological response that occurs when bloodvessels in the face and neck dilate, leading to increased bloodflow and causing the skin to appear red. When you are embarrassed your body releases adrenaline, a chemical that triggers this widening of the blood vessels and a sensation of warmth. Other effects of adrenaline include impairment of the prefrontal cortex, affecting your decision-making abilities which may be experienced as a sensation of stupidity.
“Warm and Stupid”is a heartfelt alternative folk ballad with earnest, naked vocals backedby haunting and lingering sounds made by banjo, fiddle, guitar and double bass. The band’s traditional instrumentation compliments its modern expression to create a unique spin on the ever relevant theme of the regrettable decisions one makes under the influence of love.
Buster Sledge is an acoustic sadgrass quartet of four voices, fiddle, banjo, guitar and contrabass fronted by a Californian living in Norway and backed by three Norwegians of diverse musical backgrounds, all with a shared love for traditional American music. With many musics as software and bluegrass music as hardware, the band creates a contemporary twist on a music steeped in tradition. The band presents an original repertoire of music that brings the structure and pop-esque clarity of American old-time fiddle music, the lyrical meter and storytelling focus of old mountain-ballads and country songs together with modern harmony and lyric styles from rap, pop, jazz, or whatever happens to best serve the song. These are some of the ways the group engages with the age-old tradition of recycling paraphrased archetypes into a new generation of expressions.
Buster Sledge is:
Michael Barrett Donovan: lead vocals, fiddle
Mikael Jonassen: banjo, vocals
Jakob Folke Ossum: guitar, vocals
Vidar Starheimsæter: bass, vocals
