''Misery Is a Butterfly'' is the sixth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band

Blonde Redhead Blonde Redhead is an American alternative rock band composed of Kazu Makino (vocals, keys/rhythm guitar) and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace (drums/keys and lead guitar/bass/keys/vocals, respectively) that formed in New York City in 1993. ...

. The album was released on March 15, 2004 by 4AD. Much of the visual and lyrical imagery of the album is reflective of an accident in which lead singer Kazu Makino was trampled by a horse.

Critical reception

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

ranked ''Misery Is a Butterfly'' as the 18th best album of 2004.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. Blonde Redhead * Kazu Makino – vocals,

clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...

, guitar, programming, string

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

s * Amedeo Pace – vocals, guitar,

baritone guitar The baritone guitar is a guitar with a longer scale length, typically a larger body, and heavier internal bracing, so it can be tuned to a lower pitch. Gretsch, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, ESP Guitars, PRS Guitars, Music Man, Danelectro, Schec ...

, programming, string arrangements * Simone Pace – drums, percussion, electronics, programming, string arrangements Additional musicians *

Eyvind Kang Eyvindur Y. Kang (born 23 June 1971) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. His primary instrument is viola, but has also performed on violin, tuba, keyboards and others. In addition to his solo work, Kang has worked extensively wit ...

– viola, violin, string arrangements *

Jane Scarpantoni Jane Scarpantoni (born 1960)https://www.myheritage.com/names/jane_scarpantoni is a classically trained American cello player who has played on a number of alternative rock albums. She was a member of Hoboken, New Jersey's Tiny Lights in the mid-1 ...

– cello *

Skúli Sverrisson Skúli Sverrisson (born 23 October 1966) is an Icelandic composer and bass guitarist. He has worked with musicians Wadada Leo Smith, Derek Bailey, Lou Reed, Jon Hassell, David Sylvian, Arto Lindsay, and composers Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jóhan ...

– bass Production *

Greg Calbi Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey. Biography Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. He graduated in 1966 from Bisho ...

– mastering * Chris Evans –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

(assistant) * Juan Garcia – engineering (assistant) *

John Goodmanson John Goodmanson (born 1968) is an American recording engineer and indie rock record producer. He is best known for producing multiple albums by Bikini Kill, Blonde Redhead, Death Cab for Cutie, Los Campesinos!, and Sleater-Kinney. Selected dis ...

– mixing, additional engineering *

Ryan Hadlock Ryan Hadlock is an American record producer, best known for his production work on platinum-selling album '' The Lumineers'' by The Lumineers. Career Hadlock has been around music his entire life, as his parents Joe and Manny Hadlock, started ...

–

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

, additional

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

Guy Picciotto Guy Charles Picciotto ( ) (born September 17, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, and producer from Washington, DC. He is best known as the guitarist and vocalist in Fugazi and Rites of Spring. Career Rites of Spring ...

– production Design * Chris Bigg – artwork guidance * Blonde Redhead –

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

, design * Jun Koike – initial artwork assistance *

Carlo Mollino Carlo Mollino (6 May 1905 – 27 August 1973) was an Italian architect, designer, photographer and educator. Biography Carlo Mollino was born on May 6, 1905, in Turin, a major industrial city and cultural center in northwest Italy. He was the o ...

– front cover photography * Keiko Uenishi – initial artwork assistance

Charts

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2004 albums Blonde Redhead albums Albums produced by Guy Picciotto Albums recorded at Long View Farm 4AD albums