DEADEYEDOLL: 3호선 버터플라이

This group is my addiction for 2013.

My first encounter with them was through an interview video made by Chris Park at the Seoul Sonic Festival on March 2012.

As 2013 started, I stumbled to "DREAMTALK", the latest release from 3rd Line Butterfly, that so happen to be one of the most respected and prominent alternative rock group hailing since 1998/9 from South Korea.

The album is a delight. I love how the way it is filled with noises and power ballads, I love Sang-Ah's hazy vocals, and I enjoy Ki-Wan's deliberate dead-tunes. Elusive, but purposeful.

At the last KMA 2013, 3rd Line Butterfly received 5 nominations, and brings home three (album of the year, best modern rock album and best modern rock song).

But the best and most important thing about the album is, Dreamtalk dragged me to dig deeper throughout their discography drawers. So I did what I hated and what I had to; crawling out to itunes and feed me the fix. Their previous releases are everything that I've mentioned above, but with everything stretched out to the youthful heart's content.My best purchases in 2013 so far, and I’m now itching to have the physical. And their merchandises. And live shows.

After a few run on their discography, my conclusion was moderately short:

3^rd Line Butterfly is a band that knows how to have fun with their music.

Seriously.

This is the first nursery rhymes to power ballad to the so-called post grunge alternative rock to chamber and almost twee pop playing group that bundled everything in a noisy concept.

And it’s a good thing.

Actually, it’s the best thing I’ve come across for the past 5 years.

Guitar driven rock groups always fascinates me, and 3^rd Line Butterfly is a damn good one. Their music is literally overflowing with noises. I’m not talking about any white or pink noise rockers usually put in, the noise they build was based on misplacement. Sung Ki Wan, a jazzman, guitar player, poet and a sound art professor, in one of his published interview stated,“Poet is someone who intentionally creates a 'malfunction' of a system. We can call it 'noise'. A poet is a noise maker.”

The noise itself comes to life in a form of seemingly random play of references, reckless act of improvisation and progressive exploration. They’re not staying in the comfort zone; they’re open to possibilities. They break boundaries. Very childlike.

Another marvelous feature of this group is Nam Sang Ah’s vocal cords. This is one of the main reasons why you should get their complete discography. I wouldn’t describe her voice as smoky per se, but it’s highly recognizable, which is always a good thing. You can actually hear how it’s being refined through time, without any necessary changes. She can sing joyfully like a child and wail heartbreakingly, screams her lungs out of anger and down with the confusion and uncertainty. 12 years running, still had it in her.

If you’re into them for the harsh guitar sounds from their live videos, you’ll be disappointed. If you’re into them for the coffeshop-styled-ballad singles a friend gave you, you’ll be disappointed. If you’re into them for the college year jazz and lounge tune, you’ll be disappointed.

Why? Because they have it all in every album, tweak ‘em and pack ‘em with their signature, and comes the sexy result. They can be loud as fuck and vulnerable as a leaf without any hesitation. Their albums are fucking brilliant.

I never bother trying to search their lyrics to know what they’re singing, saying and screaming about. Their music, as majestic and as claustrophobic as they may come, already speaks to me.

Get the 3^rd Line Butterfly discography HERE.