Naomi McCarroll-Butler

the interaction between the players is like listening to a couple of birds discussing the nature of reality.

Byron Coley, The Wire #494, on st!mmng with Chik White

I’m Naomi and I play woodwinds, jaw harp and homemade drone machines. I’m into noise, freaky old hymns, spiritual jazz and sombre bagpipe music. My music comes from improvisation / mysticism / the free jazz tradition / circular patterns of overblowing - collaboration with the latent mysteries in the physical / trad music of the british isles / a deep love of the drone. Oscillations of maximalism and minimalism as the one fractals out and the discrete transforms to the continuous. That kind of thing. From Hamilton ON, nurtured in Toronto's Tranzac improvised music scene, I’m now based in Montreal.

I’m a student of modal music and play with Labyrinth Ensemble, Canadian Golha Orchestra and the Canadian Arabic Orchestra. I play in the touring bands of Jeremy Dutcher, Beverly Glenn Copeland, Quinton Barnes and Pinksnail.

Check out the bands I’m in:
~ PINKSNAIL ~ LABYRINTH ENSEMBLE ~ QUINTON BARNES BLACK NOISE ENSEMBLE ~ FROTAE ~ ENSEMBLE DÉPLACER D’L’AIR ~ TRIIO ~ JEREMY DUTCHER ~ QUEER SONGBOOK ORCH ~

On the superbly titled FOUR FORMER MYRRH FORMERS FORMED HER HORN FOR MURMURS, Canadian musician Naomi McCarroll-Butler plays ten instruments, ranging from conventional tools like sax and flute to more unusual ones: air organ, holy shimmer, street sweeper kalimba. Improvising in a just intonation system, she was recorded by collaborator Jason Doell, who fed samples into his self-designed software “sad(john).low.” The resulting pieces are unpredictable yet contemplative, mixing drones, hums, and rumbles into soundscapes that feel uncannily three-dimensional. Particularly compelling is the 20-minute closer “a hummming, thrumiiiing circle spunnn / Holy Shimmer,” which sounds like a ceremonial ritual stretched to encompass a day.

Marc Masters, The Best Experimental Music on Bandcamp, Feb 2025