Indie alt-pop artist SICKY presents‘Billy Cousins’, the first track on track on his third album ‘Troubled Delight’.
Written about a fictional character, Cousins is an imaginary superhero you can pretend to be when you find yourself doubting everything.
SICKY is the solo project of Mick Butler, whose brand of Britpop-infused indie rock borrows flickering elements from Beck, Supergrass and Blur. Originally from England’s Black Country, he now lives in Shropshire. Formerly with several bands, ranging from the brass-soaked pop of Papa Mantra to the dirty stomp of SUMO, Butler now derives pleasure from banging out new SICKY material.
Empowering, fun and fearless, every track on ‘Troubled Delight’ is under three minutes. Three songs feature Jen Bone (Project Blues Band) on double bass, adding a bounce and flow to proceedings. Rebecca Butler sings on‘Mankind’ and Lily and Scarlet Butler contribute backing vocals on the lead track ‘I’m Happy If You’re Happy’.
Just recently, SICKY also shared the single ‘Slide’, capturing the gritty reality of a relapse into harmful behaviour and the painful aftermath, reflecting a deeply personal and relatable struggle.
“’Billy Cousins’ is a song about an imaginary character you can pretend to be when you find yourself doubting everything. The production is probably inspired by the Prince era, which left its mark on me. I’m talking about the Get Off/Sexy MF/Batman era. Big beats, outrageous grooves and killer hooklines. The little purple one blew me away with this stuff,” says SICKY.
“The video features a scene from the wonderfully nuts 1963 film ‘It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World’, which had just about every famous face from the time in it. A film that was shown regularly on TV, I can still hear my mom howling with laughter at the over-the-top characters – laughing so hard she’d have to leave the room. The Dick Shawn (real name!) character Sylvester in the video has something of Billy Cousins about him… Not a stoned care in the world, so the song’s a bit of fun in these trying times. If you want to step out and breathe for two minutes and fifty-five seconds, ‘Billy Cousins’ could be the perfect escape from the madness of reality.”
Other songs on this album are about real life happenings. Happy moments, fallings out, false promises and even a sense of fun even in the darker moments, showing that you don’t have to make depressing music to talk about hard life realities. ‘Ten Minutes’ features Bridgnorth’s St. Leonard’s church bell. ‘Money For The News’ has sliding doors at a Stourbridge shopping centre. ‘My Girl’s Gone’ has a snippet from the film ‘Quatermass and the Pit’ with kind permission from Hammer Films in London. ‘The Hill’recounts the pain of a 22-mile charity walk (never again!), kind of a metaphor for life.
SICKY first appeared on the scene (in this incarnation) during the lockdowns of 2021, releasing his debut album ‘Bowling Balls’, which was partially inspired by Prince, Bowie and Ray Bradbury’s book ‘The Martian Chronicles’. In 2023, SICKY released his sophomore album ‘Garbage Town’ to wide acclaim.
The ‘Troubled Delight’ album is out now and available from fine digital platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp.
TRACK LIST
01. Billy Cousins
02. I’m Happy If You’re Happy
03. Ten Minutes
04. My Girl’s Gone
05. Slide
06. Money For The News
07. Win
08. Life In A Jar
09. Songbird
10. The Hill
11. Mankind
12. Just Me
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CREDITS
Written by Mick Butler (SICKY)
Recorded, mixed and produced by SICKY in Shropshire
Mastered by Charlie Francis at Synergy Mastering Cardiff.
Photos by Helen Marshall
Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR
Jen Bone – double bass on Tracks 2, 4, 5
Rebecca Butler – vocals on Track 11
Lily and Scarlet – back vocals & random noises on Track 2.