BLONDE REDHEAD

Blonde Redhead are that rarest of things – a band whose voice has grown stronger, clearer and more distinctive with every record that they have made. Their reward for this has been an audience whose numbers have quietly grown over the course of their career, almost entirely by word of mouth.

Whatever the reason, "Misery Is A Butterfly" features some of the most tender music in the Blonde Redhead catalogue – tracks like "Anticipation" and "Magic Mountain" swell and shimmer with wistful melodies and delicately-placed skeins of sound. Other tracks are more full-blooded, notably Amedeo-written offerings like "Falling Man" and "Maddening Cloud", and the hypnotic, almost tantric "Pink Love" - all three underpinned by Simone's potent, multidimensional rhythms. The closer "Equus" unites the two worlds, its spare, lithe introduction mutating into a chanted chorus of real intensity. Throughout, keyboards, violins and cellos swirl through the mix, conjuring plangent atmospheres and making "Misery Is A Butterfly" an overwhelmingly fluid and rich counterpoint to the angluar starkness of Blonde Redhead's early releases.

Estimated despatch 14-20 days after ordering.