“Sleep at your own speed” is a new album from a new artist on the German Morr Music. The label is German, but the artist, Butcher the Bar a.k.a. Joel Nicholson, is from Manchester, England.

The 22 year old Nicholson first appeared on Morr’s compilation “a number of small things” last year, at least that’s where I heard him first, where he participated with two brilliant tracks, one of them also present on this album.

Butcher the Bar’s debut on Morr features 13 tracks, mostly acoustic songs where Joel Nicholson sings with his soft, melancholic voice. There are some more upbeat songs with distorted guitars, but the feeling stays the same because of Nicholson’s calm, relaxed vocals. Overall, this album seems very though through. Everything fits, everything works well together.

The songs are good, the atmosphere on the album is wonderful, and the only negative thing I can say is that the combination of his vocals and the occational banjo makes me think of Sufjan Stevens just a bit too often. I’m not sure if that is a bad or a good sign?… If you like Sufjan Stevens, or if you like other obvious comparisons like Elliot Smith, Paul Simon and of course Nick Drake, you will probably also like this one. Morr music’s Seabear is also close, so give them a listen too.

In my eyes and ears, Morr Music is more interesting than ever in 2008. Check out their recent releases. All wonderful stuff.

Listen to this track from”Sleep at your own speed”:

Butcher the bar - Leave this town