Misery Is A Butterfly
by Blonde Redhead
  • Record Label: 4AD
  • Release Date: Mar 23, 2004
User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 27 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 27
  3. Negative: 3 out of 27

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  1. TristramC
    Sep 30, 2005
    6
    When I first bought this in the early half of last year I hated it. I felt like it was aping Radiohead, Mercury Rev and the like and mining for folks who couldn't tell the differernce. I did like one of the tracks, Pink Love, but I shelved it basically for the rest of 2004. At years end Blender included Elephant Woman in their best songs of the year issue and I tried the cd again. I When I first bought this in the early half of last year I hated it. I felt like it was aping Radiohead, Mercury Rev and the like and mining for folks who couldn't tell the differernce. I did like one of the tracks, Pink Love, but I shelved it basically for the rest of 2004. At years end Blender included Elephant Woman in their best songs of the year issue and I tried the cd again. I was in the process of rediscovering the Cocteau Twins and this album struck a chord. Look, it isn't high art or anything but the textures are intricately composed and quite captivating. You could easily do worse and if you are into the bands mentioned or the dream pop coming out of Iceland (Sigur Ros, Mum, etc) you will definitely dig this record.… Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 22
  3. Negative: 0 out of 22
  1. Filter
    86
    Misery doesn't step forward so much as expand outward; roughly half of the album... sounds as if it could've been lifted off of Melody. The other half is purely visceral. [#10, p.91]
  2. Rolling Stone
    70
    A bang-up mix of electronic song structure and guitar impressionism.
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  3. AllMusic
    80
    The album's soft-focus allows Blonde Redhead to explore its relatively newfound romanticism more deeply than before... but with less tension between the fragile and harsh aspects of the band's sound, its soft-focus occasionally drifts into lack of focus.
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