Blonde Redhead have remained completely singular and original in their sound for over their 32 year career, forming in New York, 1993. Starting out in the no-wave and noise scene, by the 2000s the band(consisting of guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Kazu Makino and twin brothers Simone Pace(drums/keys) and Amedeo Pace(guitar/bass/vocals/keys) had folded in elements of dream pop and shoegaze which put a spotlight on Makino’s ethereal vocals. Misery Is A Butterfly and 23 remain their most popular and engaging records, with each album after building upon them.
There’s drama and an overall melancholy feel to Blonde Redhead, even in the more guitar heavy songs. The brothers Pace and Kazu Makino make music that seems to wander in cinematic waters, while indulging dreamy wonder and introspection. Their last three studio albums, Penny Sparkle, Barragán, and 2023s Sit Down For Dinner all carry a weight to them; intricate composition, studio finesse, and songs that feel like longing and reminiscing for a time long gone and out of reach.
Their latest, The Shadow of the Guest, is a mish mash of sorts. Revisiting some tracks from Sit Down For Dinner, recording with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, a reimagining of their “For The Damaged Coda”, and ambient ASMR tracks created by Makino. While not an essential Blonde Redhead record, it’s one super fans will want to fill out the collection.
The highlights of this release are the first four tracks featuring the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Sit Down For Dinner tracks “Rest of Her Life”, “Before” and “Via Savona” come out achingly beautiful. Makino’s vocals accented by a choir, there’s something quite magical about that combination. It grabs your attention and never quite lets go. “Kiss Her Before The Snow Melts” is an 11-minute mix of old songs reimagined as ASMR. Makino’s “oohs” and “ahhhs” reverberate over calming music that gives it all a very meditative feel. I don’t know much about ASMR, but if that’s what this is you can count me in.
“Good Morning Sunshine” and “Good Night Till Tomorrow” continue that ASMR trip, while the album closes on “Oda A Coda”, which is an instrumental flamenco/mariachi version of the track “For The Damaged Coda” off 2000s Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons.
While not ever going to be Blonde Redhead canon, The Shadow of the Guest is a welcome oddity in their discography. New to Blonde Redhead? Dig into Misery Is A Butterfly or 23, then when you’ve made it through the last 20 years give this one a listen.
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Every Blonde Redhead record is a delight as far as I’m concerned; one of my all time favorite bands. I’ve seen them live several times over the years, the most memorable being one show at the old Emo’s in Austin and one where they co-headlined with the “Antics” era of Interpol at the Austin Music Hall. “Fake Can Be Just As Good” is one of my all time favorite albums, especially hearing those ripper basslines courtesy of Vern (RIP) of Unwound fame. The follow up “In An Expression of the Inexpressible” I revisted just the other day, the beginning of their wonderfully weird angular adventures of skewed French Pop. I’ve been revisiting a lot of records from 1998 to 2005. A time where I walked from my apartment to Sound Exchange on the drag to see crusties blow my mind in a parking lot behind the store all for the price of a tall boy and 5 dollars in a bucket. There’s a lot of good music out there, hopefully that phenomenon of dippign out of the normal “confines of the biz” re-emerges from the smoldering AI ash.
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I need to do a deep dive of their stuff pre-Misery. That’s where I started with them and was so beguiled by the 60s Italio/French pop sound. Mood for miles.
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