Western Medicine

The first thing that jumps out at you about Western Medicine, the fourth long-player from Alaska-bred, Portland, Oregon-based fire-and brimstone-buskers turned fire-and-brimstone indie folk rock darlings the Builders and the Butchers, is the cover art, which sports a prog rock-inspired illustration by local artist Lukas Ketner that looks like a comic book rendering of a Hieronymus Bosch painting or an abandoned Broadsword and the Beast-era Jethro Tull, Horslips, or Marillion jacket. It would also look great on the side of a van. Steeped in wild west imagery (the album was inspired by the stories of author Cormac McCarthy) and brimming with the zeal of the hell bound or the just plain old hell-bent, the album effectively evokes the region where it derives its inspiration. Frontman Ryan Sollee treats each lyric as an incantation, and often, the effect is chilling, as is the case with the propulsive, slow burn opener "Blood Runs Cold," where he declares in a steely, measured tone "I came out on the range/I gave up on the road/And nothing's gonna stop me now/I'm out on the plain/there's blood in the back of my throat."