For anyone who came of age musically in the 1980s, the Psychedelic Furs are nothing short of legendary. Back then, the Furs, as their fans knew them, were all over the airwaves, keeping good company with other influential artists such as the Sex Pistols, The Clash, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Iggy Pop, and Echo & the Bunnymen. The Furs' melodic post-punk-pop stood out from some of the harder-edged bands of the genre, as did Richard Butler's distinctive raspy vocals, which were set almost in the background, among the swirl of guitars, drums, and sax.

But now imagine, if you will, Butler's three-packs-a-day voice in the foreground, sounding closer to the bone, and even more introspective and personal, over the acoustic guitar, complemented by a string symphony or a choral strain. This is what the Furs founder has done on his first solo effort, simply titled Richard Butler. Butler is quite clear, however, that he hasn't deserted his old musical compatriots.

Speaking from his home in Cold Spring on a cold March morning, Butler is adamant that he's "not really going solo." "I'm just making a solo record," he explains in a thick British accent. "I'm making another Psychedelic Furs record as well this year. I'll be getting down and writing some lyrics. The guys are impatiently waiting for me. They've been writing music for the next Furs record for about a year now, and I haven't been doing anything with it. I've been touring with them on and off for the last five or six years. They've written the music, we have three or four songs written already."

So, if the Furs are deviating from their norm for their next album, which direction are they taking musically? "It's very Psychedelic Furs, really," Butler laughs. "No, well, you can't really deviate from that, can you?"

When the British-based Psychedelic Furs broke into the burgeoning New Wave-Punk scene in the late 1970s the band consisted of Butler as vocalist and lyricist, his brother Tim Butler on bass, Duncan Kilburn on sax, and Roger Morris on guitar. (A third brother left the group early on because, according to Butler, it felt a little too much like the Osmonds.) Within two years, the Furs added drummer Vince Ely and guitarist John Ashton, and their sound became more pop oriented. Their self-titled debut in 1980 made the top 20 in the UK. In 1981, Talk Talk Talk, produced by Steve Lillywhite, hit the US charts, and its original version of the hit "Pretty In Pink" was re-recorded for the 1986 John Hughes film of the same name. The band moved to New York in 1982, recording their third album with producer Todd Rundgren and releasing the single "Love My Way," which was a hit in the US and UK. Subsequent albums featured such hits as "The Ghost in You," "Heaven," "Heartbreak Beat" and "All That Money Wants," securing the Furs a permanent place on college and progressive-rock radio and earning the band number one hits on Billboard's new Modern Rock chart.

In the early 1990s, the Butler brothers decided to make a split and start their own band, Love Spit Love, but Butler's real intention was to make his own album.

"I was going to do a solo record," he explains. "I left the Furs, put the Furs on hiatus or whatever for awhile, and started making a record. But it was much more band sounding, and I was working with a guitarist. During the process of making it, it became a band rather than [a] solo record. It never came out, the solo record. And it shouldn't have, because it didn't sound like a solo record. That evolved into Love Spit Love. This," he says, referring to Richard Butler, "actually sounds like a solo record in that there's much more emphasis on the voice, I suppose."

Set for release on April 18, Richard Butler is much gentler than Butler's previous band work. The songs are dreamier, more intricate, poetic, and tender, utilizing acoustic guitar and shimmering keyboards to produce a background of ambient sound. Butler's style is distinctly mellow, with a Radiohead twist, and his 11 songs are lofty and wistful, yet upbeat, sometimes starting quietly and then breaking into soaring symphonies and chorals. Simulated strings and guitar effects are married with percussion to create elevated, multi-textured soundscapes that contain subtle nuances for fans of headphones—a closer listen will reveal the cosmic, the loopy, and the robotic. Upon repeated spins, you can find yourself lost in the beauty of certain songs.

Richard Butler was recorded at Sky High Studios as a collaboration between Butler and instrumentalist and producer Jon Carin (Pink Floyd, Pete Townshend, Bryan Ferry), whom Butler acknowledges as a great influence over the direction of the music.

"We managed to record it over in Putnam Valley," Butler says, "cause he's got a pretty high tech studio over there at his house, and because it was only a 25-minute drive for me. I could get over there daily, and it was a pretty relaxed way of making a record. We decided to make the record, then get a record company, which meant that we weren't under any kind of pressure. So, we took our time about it, which was a great luxury in music, to be able to just put something out when you're ready to, not have anybody looking over your shoulder, breathing down your neck."

Though Carin's musical landscape is resplendent and hopeful, Butler's despair and loss over recent events is evident in his lyrics. "The lyrics are fairly dark," Butler admits. "During the course of making [the album], my marriage broke up, Jon's relationship broke up, and both of our fathers died. So that informed the lyrics and the music to some degree." To counterbalance the joyful music, Butler has written such somber poetry as: "No one will answer you when you call, when even the farthest stars start collapsing back to the beginning and there's no room for heaven" ("California"); "Under the satellites you're on your own and it's the same sad song all of us know" ("Satellites"); "I hate every second of this life long day, what do we say, the eyes that cried are empty spaces, we're broken aeroplanes on the runway, never leaving, going no place" ("Broken Aeroplanes"); "That last straw bent my back, we're beat and bullied till we crack, I give in, let's pretend that we're all angels in the end" ("Sentimental Airlines"); "Summer's gone, it only stayed a minute, all the rainbows ran, all applaud the lions of September, when the nights get long" ("Maybe Someday").

Before founding the Psychedelic Furs, Butler graduated from the Epsom School of Art and Design in England. He describes his work as "Figurative painting, oil on canvas, pretty traditional materials and subjects. I can't know how I'd describe it, really—you can see a bunch of it online at casola.com and vanbruntgallery.com." He adds, with a laugh, "I've been showing for a couple of years. Actually, the first solo show I had was last year. Also the fifth solo show I had was last year. I had five shows last year, which was quite a lot of work, really."

Photo by Dmitri Kasterine.

Butler's work tends to be dark and unconventional. His portraits are often populated with skulls and assaulting figures wearing dunce cap masks. Recurring colors are black, white, and red. One of Butler's most powerful artistic statements appears on the album cover—a crouching naked soldier with Christian crosses smeared on his helmet in what appears to be blood. Despite his darker pen and paint strokes, Butler doesn't seem like the morose type, at least not over the phone. He laughs often, and there's a twinkling joviality in his voice. He's a friendly guy who doesn't mind getting involved with his local community. Recently asked by a neighbor and friend who does the booking at the Philipstown Theater in Garrison to help out with a benefit concert, Butler unhesitatingly agreed. "It's a community theater, so it requires constant money and good will, and what have you," he says, laughing again. The theater, which was voted Best Theater in Westchester/Putnam by Hudson Valley magazine two years in a row, has won numerous awards from the Theater Association of New York State. The Butler gig, which has not yet been scheduled, will take place some time later this spring. (Call (845) 424-3900 for date, time, and ticket price). Says Butler: "The way I'm going out playing it, which is acoustically with a guitarist and keyboard player, is not that different from the way the record sounds."

Though Butler is mainly relaxing with his painting at present, he took off on March 20 for a US solo tour, beginning in Chicago. Between touring and a show of his recent paintings at the Van Brunt Gallery in Beacon this coming June, another possible gallery show in Manhattan next year, and a Psychedelic Furs record to write, Butler has certainly got his hands full. But this is one multi-talented juggler whose work continues to impress audiences, no matter what the medium. For more on Butler's artistic adventures, visit www.burneddowndays.com.