Blonde Redhead – Misery Is A Butterfly

A pair of Italian twins meet a Japanese woman in New York and form a band. What sounds like the script for a reversal of Sofia Coppola's film "Lost in Translation" is the story of Blonde Redhead.

Originally formed as a quartet in the nineties, their first works appeared, appropriately enough, on Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley's label Smells Like Records; a little later, the hip talent factory Touch&Go took notice of the band, which had shrunk to a trio. And now 4AD is preparing to make the former US indie secret tip palatable to good old Europe.

Not only the label is new, also the distortion and feedback orgies had to abdicate in favor of an ethereal sound that gives the fine-spun melodies plenty of room. Fans of the band will not be able to hide their astonishment at the broadening of the musical spectrum at first hearing, but will certainly take the album to their hearts in no time. Spex is full of praise: "Misery Is A Butterfly' only makes it difficult when it comes to naming favorite songs - everything is too densely interwoven, the pieces too good to pick out a single one."

Reviews

"Freed from all constraints, Blonde Redhead are beautifully reborn on Misery Is a Butterfly." ​Pitchfork

"Blonde Redhead's Misery Is a Butterfly is a gorgeous and ambitious album, informed by pain but transcending it through real beauty." ​Treble

"Misery Is a Butterfly brings a shift in style that I definitely welcome with open arms, which exhibits a wholly new manner of capability for the band." ​Tiny Mix Tapes