Buzzbox

Life on Earth sounds mundane enough to most people, but to a musician such as former Lawrence and current San Francisco resident Ben Tuttle, even everyday experiences take on profound meaning.

For starters, there’s the way Tuttle introduces the players in Life on Earth, including himself: “The group is held together by the subterranean Phil Crain on the electric and upright bass, the prolific melodic Roland Mitchell on the Wurlitzer and piano, the outlandish James Abbott on percussive elements, and the distant Benjamin Tuttle on the drum kit.”

Or take the way Tuttle describes the chemistry that holds together Life on Earth’s spontaneous and organic groove: “We can create music spontaneously and take it where we choose…. We are able to speak to each other in musical phrases, and it feels quite natural.”

All of this makes Tuttle and the other members of Life on Earth sound like millennial mystics at best, Trustafarians at worse. In fact, they are neither. Instead, they make ethereal music influenced by the Thrill Jockey avant-jazz-rock camp but with a groove that brings those shoegazers closer than they’ll ever get to a rave.

Tuttle sought a return to this Life on Earth when his own life in San Francisco, where he was searching for a job, started weighing him down. “Seeking work can often be a job of its own,” says Tuttle, “one without income, mind you. And this place had my heart in a chokehold. I would free myself eventually, but after moving out here last year, I would listen to the recordings that (Life on Earth) had, and I always felt a positive and optimistic vibe, one which pointed to infinite possibilities between musicians.”

Nevertheless, obligations to the professional world got in the way of exploring these possibilities — that is, until Tuttle, who had been working on MTVi’s editorial staff, became one of hundreds of heads on the online music entertainment company’s chopping block. And while it was widely reported that MTVi did its employees a disservice, Tuttle sees this downsizing as a blessing in disguise: “Having refused to give in to the drone lifestyle of the millions of worker bees and sheep who inhabit the Bay Area, I have been blessed with the opportunity to follow my heart from San Francisco to Lawrence to participate in really the only thing that has true significance for me — Life on Earth.” He makes it sound so simple.