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. I’m a student of modal music with Labyrinth Ensemble. From Hamilton ON, nurtured in Toronto's Tranzac improvised music scene, I’m now based in Montreal.

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