On paper, there are few team-ups less obvious than the pairing of new wave legends Martha and the Muffins with kitsch-funk revivalist John Orpheus. But they’ve hit pay dirt together before, and now they’re about to do it again. On “Buttermilk,” their second joint single in as many years, the unlikely coconspirators throw down a groove that just won’t quit—and prove the success of their ongoing part-time partnership is no fluke.
“You hungry, baby?” Orpheus calls out at the outset of the track. “You know we cooking.” What follows is an uninterrupted three minutes’ worth of witty, mouth-watering metaphors that could be meant to represent the joy master musicians can’t help but feel when they’re concocting something special in the proverbial creative kitchen. Or, you know, they could be talking about that other thing. But it’s best not to over-intellectualize the lyrical intent anyway, when the song’s real raison d’etre is its delicious recipe of wah guitar, heavenly bells and rubber-band bass—a mixture that gets brought to a boil at just the right moments by the thematically disconnected yet irresistible vocal refrain “I’m walking a fine line.”
Its proud creators describe the overall effect of the track as “a sound clash between Remain in Light-era Talking Heads and Funkadelic.” Hey, whatever gets the flour in the pan. What counts is that the record is a slam dunk of a follow-up to “Look to the Moon,” their “pan-cultural summer driving song” of two years ago. Like that boundary-breaking number, “Buttermilk” is being released under the moniker Chemical Dreams—an umbrella that Martha and the Muffins stalwarts Martha Johnson and Mark Gane have created to facilitate no-holds-barred collaborations with their artistic peers both new and old. Meant to keep the door open to everything from David Bowie tributes to Grace Jones-esque club stompers, Chemical Dreams is engineered to be “as unpredictable as your dreams will be tonight.”
It says a lot when Johnson and Gane have to set up a side project to give free rein to their full range of inspiration, given that their recorded output over the years has run the wide gamut from Canadian rock classics like “Echo Beach” and “Swimming” to their highly ominous 2023 reimagining of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.” Orpheus, for his part, has been making waves of late with tongue-in-cheek paeans to the yesteryear of soul like “90’s Fool” and “Get Right,” which harken back to a time when the Jheri curls may have been dubious, but the musical talent was genuine (and Ginuwine). No wonder he works so well with the Muffin heads, whose vision for Chemical Dreams prizes off-the-cuff authenticity almost above all else.
In what’s become standard operating procedure for Johnson and Gane, they recorded “Buttermilk” in their small home studio, The Web. “It’s not particularly elaborate, but we get great results and I think people feel comfortable working in that environment,” Gane says. Mixing was done with Tim Abraham (Grand Analog/Odario) at Secret Door Recording, with an overall emphasis on maintaining the organic and natural feel that had been part of the track since the first notes were laid down. “We were playing real instruments for the most part,” Gane explains, “so it has that feeling of spontaneity.”
“Buttermilk” and “Look to the Moon” are both featured prominently on The International Sound System Party Vol. II, a compilation of singles, remixes and unreleased tracks by artists on The Confidence Emperors record label (the same imprint Orpheus records for as a solo act). The album also includes a third Chemical Dreams track, “The Living End,” this one teaming Johnson and Gane with Grand Analog saxophonist Aubrey McGhee (who also blows accompaniment for that band’s frontman, Odario, when he performs solo).
The album’s release will be celebrated with a live show set for Friday, November 29, at Toronto’s Rivoli. Orpheus will be the headliner, performing a typically invigorating set that will include guest appearances by Odario and Ghost Caravan (who has a bonus duet with Go International on the digital version of the album). Neither Johnson nor Gane will be taking part in the celebrations, unfortunately. But listen—somebody’s got to keep an eye on the kitchen.
