Siren Records

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''Misery Is a Butterfly'' is the sixth studio album by Blonde Redhead, released in 2004. - Wikipedia

Picture this scenario: A quirky New York emigre rock trio is kidnapped by a maniacally obsessive tycoon who locks the band in a nicely appointed studio and forces them to record essentially the same ornate, minor-key song over and over. "Pliz, pliz," begs Amedeo, the band's guitarist, co-vocalist, and hunky identical twin of drummer Simone, dropping to his knees, "stop us if you heard zis one before." Their captor (let's call him Ivor) has other ideas. He wants to mold the band's idiosyncrasies into a real style and knows the only way he can do that is by encouraging consistency. "Song-to-song variety" he says softly to himself, sounding like Mr. French, "must be generated only by embellishment. I will dress my children well." Meticulously, he festoons each track with clavinets and string quartets, synth arpeggios, and studio tricks, leaving one, "Magic Mountain," bare. The song's spooky guitar, electric piano, and spare junkyard percussion adorn guitarist Kazu's delicate vocal too perfectly for even Ivor to intervene. In the end, Amedeo wins out and the band gets to do one up-tempo disco-punk song, "Equus." Even though Ivor's hubris prevents him from seeing that the two exceptions to his rule are the album's most compelling tracks, the final audio document turns out better than anything that sounds like a bunch of different versions of "Hotel California" reimagined by Mozart for a Pixies tribute album has any business being.

"Picture this scenario: A quirky New York emigre rock trio is kidnapped by a maniacally obsessive tycoon who locks the band in a nicely appointed studio and forces them to record essentially the same ornate, minor-key song over and over. ""Pliz, pliz,"" begs Amedeo, the band's guitarist, co-vocalist, and hunky identical twin of drummer Simone, dropping to his knees, ""stop us if you heard zis one before."" Their captor (let's call him Ivor) has other ideas. He wants to mold the band's idiosyncrasies into a real style and knows the only way he can do that is by encouraging consistency. ""Song-to-song variety"" he says softly to himself, sounding like Mr. French, ""must be generated only by embellishment. I will dress my children well."" Meticulously, he festoons each track with clavinets and string quartets, synth arpeggios, and studio tricks, leaving one, ""Magic Mountain,"" bare. The song's spooky guitar, electric piano, and spare junkyard percussion adorn guitarist Kazu's delicate vocal too perfectly for even Ivor to intervene. In the end, Amedeo wins out and the band gets to do one up-tempo disco-punk song, ""Equus."" Even though Ivor's hubris prevents him from seeing that the two exceptions to his rule are the album's most compelling tracks, the final audio document turns out better than anything that sounds like a bunch of different versions of ""Hotel California"" reimagined by Mozart for a Pixies tribute album has any business being.

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