CD Feature: Chaos Butterfly: "Three Living Things"

At least I wasn't wearing high heels

The first thing I thought when I listened to this was that there is this underlying current of peace and exuberant joy that runs through the entire album, buried beneath the layers of archaic-sounding computer noises, looped vocals, high-pitched screeches (apparently from co-musician and vocalist Dina Emerson rubbing the edges of wine glasses, according to the liner notes), and the occasional strains of violin (from other co-musician, Camper Van Beethoven's Jonathan Segel). The second time I listened to the album, I could still trace a thin tentacle of joy running through the music, but it didn't seem quite as pronounced, and I wasn't sure why--since the first time, that current seemed so strong. A few minute into that second listen, though, my unventilated office was filled with the thick smell of bleach, carried in by my floor fan from the back bathroom, where my son was busily killing ants with various cleaning fluids. I'm thinking the small amount of brain damage done to me in that period of time was what dulled my ability to
fully appreciate the CD on that second listen.

Of course, as soon as I smelled the bleach, I got up out of my chair and ran into the bathroom, worried that maybe my toddler daughter had gotten into something, or that maybe some bleach-smelling creature-I had been watching horror movies all day, and it was pretty late into the night-had gotten into my house and that was the warning smell of doom that you're supposed to recognize in these situations. If there had actually been a bleach-soaked zombie in the bathroom, I would have not actually been able to do anything, and would probably have been a lot safer in my office with the door locked between us, but there's something about actually smelling death or toxic chemicals in your house that makes one leap from their chair and run, completely unprepared for combat, straight to the place the scent is coming from. At least I wasn't wearing high heels.

By Holly Day

Homepage: Chaos Butterfly
Label: Pitch-a-Tent