Photo courtesy of Tim Butler
(March 10, 2021) Chicago native Tim Butler proves himself to be quite the storyteller on his new single “It Is What It Is,” a cut from his fourth studio album, No Filter. The cut deals with a conflict that recurs both in song and in drama: an intimate who betrays a confidence. Butler possesses a sweet, rangy and emotive tenor voice, and as a songwriter, he has the ability to choose words that express the raw emotions that pour out when someone realizes that something that should remain between two people is now in public.
And Butler goes with a musical arrangement that makes sure that the focus stays on his voice and the story that told in the lyrics. The track has a percussive pounding arrangement in which every instrument serves the purpose of emphasizing the words that come out of his mouth. Butler is making a case against somebody on this track, and he employs lyrics and the instrumental arrangement as a weapon.
(March 10, 2021) Chicago native Tim Butler proves himself to be quite the storyteller on his new single “It Is What It Is,” a cut from his fourth studio album, No Filter. The cut deals with a conflict that recurs both in song and in drama: an intimate who betrays a confidence. Butler possesses a sweet, rangy and emotive tenor voice, and as a songwriter, he has the ability to choose words that express the raw emotions that pour out when someone realizes that something that should remain between two people is now in public.
And Butler goes with a musical arrangement that makes sure that the focus stays on his voice and the story that told in the lyrics. The track has a percussive pounding arrangement in which every instrument serves the purpose of emphasizing the words that come out of his mouth. Butler is making a case against somebody on this track, and he employs lyrics and the instrumental arrangement as a weapon.
Butler has training both in the church and in academia and it shows. He started singing in the church as a little boy, and then went on to expand on what he learned in the choir stands with music education at the Merit Music School of Chicago and Northern Illinois University, and he’s worked with some of the biggest names in R&B, pop and gospel music. Check out “It Is What It Is” here.
By Howard Dukes
Tim Butler - "It Is What It Is"