3 out of 5

Label: Road Cone

Produced by: Mini Wagonwheel, Gilles (mixed by)

The Rollerball crew has been on a journey, and along the way, we see these shifts in approach – perhaps as band members come and go – that’ve tacked on to or sharpened their indie experimental leanings in various ways.  

Trail of the Butter Yeti is, perhaps, the peak of their free jazz era – when they gathered their Portland rock influences and looked towards the outre and art rock, for a mix of jazz and funk and folk and electronica and more. ‘Peak’ is a little misleading here, though: for Rollerball, they’re subjectively at their best when they’re in seeing-what-sticks mode; by the time of Yeti, the collective felt comfortable in their weird skin, and it no longer feels like we’re iterating: this is a smoother, and thus rather less striking, version of preceding album Bathing Music. 

The blend of the aforementioned styles is pretty seamless here, carried by a strong beat as a backbone from track to track. The album succeeds greatly when this is applied to something more epic – Butter Fairy, Narcisse – with beats and effects and vocals crossing back from the operatic to folk and dub; otherwise Yeti amounts to something you bob your head to, as a lot of the music is silky smooth ambience, or low-key guitar, drum, and bass noodling. 

The confidence in the mix removes some mystery: lyrics are silly, and though this can still be pretty dense, musically, all the sounds are identifiable; you are comfortable with the music, and its swoony secretions. 

Which all sounds overly negstive. It’s not meant to be. At a crossroads between Portland weird, and like a Chiago Thrill Jockey chill, Rollerball evolved in fits and spirts, nailing a particular sound in Butter Yeti that’s plenty pleasant, and has enough flourish to not be mainstream, bur is also very, very palatable, and poppy, and accessible.