Harry Stafford and Marco Butcher Release 'Time Always Knows' Single

Manchester underground music icon Harry Stafford and American trash blues guitarist Marco Butcher are back with their first new music in three years. 'Time Always Knows' heralds their forthcoming album 'Skyscraper Superhighway', out in January 2027 via Black Lagoon Records.

The haunting single previews the album, blending cinematic noir with a fading love song, exploring the bittersweet memories of lost romance through atmospheric, John Barry-inspired guitars and shadowy production.

The lyrics reflect on the bittersweet experience of watching an intense past romance fade into distant, abstract memories over time. As vivid details dissolve like smoke, Stafford sits with the lingering weight of a fleeting yet deep connection, ultimately coming to accept the loss and recognizing that time carries its own quiet wisdom, eventually bringing closure.

With a sound that virtually meshes a film soundtrack score with a fleeting love song, the duo offers a sublime moment of contemporary noir. With his production and backwards guitars, Marco allows Harry's beloved John Barry Esq guitar to float these atmospheric textures throughout the song.

Filmed, edited, produced and directed by Harry Stafford, the accompanying video was filmed in the Manchester neighbourhood of Didsbury on a chilly night in October. From a lyrical perspective, Harry has searched deeper to recall the stories and moments that moved him and triggered his curiosity. Within the song, there lies a lyrical foreboding that ultimately finds some joy from contemporary despair.

'I had the music for a while, which sounded like a spin on John Barry's film music and the heavily reverbed guitars of a Morricone score. The melancholy of it seemed to beg for the lyrics of a hapless love song to be sung across it, but it's still, in essence, a kind of soundtrack song,' explains Harry Stafford.

'Marco, who is heavily into film score music, immediately wanted to add some percussion and a bass line and in the production process decided a backwards guitar would add to the despair.'

Stafford and Butcher's creative partnership began during lockdown in 2020, sparking an unlikely fusion of English post-punk and Brazilian trash blues. Their third album delivers another vivid collision of ideas from two artists long established at the cult fringes of the music industry, who are pushing deeper into their imaginative soundscapes and noir storytelling.

Harry Stafford, who is founder, singer and guitarist for Mancunian gothic-noise merchants Inca Babies, has toured worldwide and released ten albums with the group. His collaborations with The Membranes, Simon Ding Archer, Inspiral Carpets' Clint Boon, Kevin G. Davy and Public Image Ltd's Keith Levene reflect his drive to expand the boundaries of what is possible within the not inconsequential arena of his musical experience.

Marco Butcher, through his work with The Jazz Messengers and Kurt Wolf (Pussy Galore), has released albums spanning jazz, blues, symphonic percussion and electro darkwave. His prolific output has seen him release a multitude of diverse albums and EPs through various projects. His drumming and sense of rhythmic backbone has a compatible melodic imagination and instinct to bend the familiar into unfamiliar shapes, feeling strangely connected to his fellow musicians, especially Harry Stafford.

'Skyscraper Superhighway' is the third album from Harry Stafford and Marco Butcher, following 'We Are The Perilous Men' in 2023 and 'Bone Architecture' in 2021. Their shared ideas, cathartic moments, striking melodies, and chaotic-to-serendipitous riffs and beats converge to create the collection of songs and ideas.

Using every conceivable instrument that can be plucked, struck, bowed, blown or programmed, they have drawn twelve songs from the ether and shaped them into the record. From the John Barry-esque soundtrack of 'Time Always Knows' to the electro beat percussion of the title track 'Skyscraper Superhighway', Harry and Marco have dug deep into their musical vaults to explore further areas of invention and discovery.

The new album was recorded between Harry's studio in Manchester, and Marco's Boombox Studio in North Carolina. Files and WAV forms were swapped down the line and the songs took shape, sometimes immediately and, other times, with the wailing and gnashing of teeth as they both agonised over the ability to be excellent not perfect.

As of October 21st, 'Time Always Knows' is available from music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp. The 'Skyscraper Superhighway' album will be released on CD and digitally on January 15, 2027.

Credits

Music written by Harry Stafford and Marco Butcher

Lyrics by Harry Stafford

Harry Stafford - vocals, lead guitar and strings

Marco Butcher - bass and backwards guitar

Recorded by Harry Stafford and Marco Butcher

Produced & Mastered by Marco Butcher at Boombox Studio, North Carolina

Released via Black Lagoon Records

Catalogue no. BLRCD0062

Video filmed, edited, produced and directed by Harry Stafford