Chicago sextet Butterfly Assassins, boasting members from the University of Michigan, the University of Illinois and Northwestern, play frenzied rock tracks that would have sounded alien eight years ago but, thanks to the likes of Arcade Fire and Northwestern alum Andrew Bird, can be filed in the “rock-’n'-roll with a classical bite” category. This classical element of the band plays a vital role in Butterfly Assassins’ music, as most of the songs on their first full-length album, Sylvia, plow ahead on piano keys and strings, and are just as prominent in the band’s songs as conventional guitars and drums, if not more so. What immediately makes Butterfly Assassins miles better than most college groups is the lack of novelty. This isn’t a group of friends goofing around on a Friday night: It’s a group of friends experimenting with the skills they have to create something refreshing.
The old-timey feel isn’t always utilized well, though, as some songs on Sylvia bear too much of a resemblance to another Chicago real-classical-rock outfit, The Hush Sound — better known as Fall Out Boy with a piano. The first proper song, “Hypocratocracy,” stumbles into this pitfall, failing to sound much different than a more-Gothic modern-rock track (the unnecessary guitar solo midway through doesn’t help matters) and only shines when it switches into a brief, all-piano ditty reminiscent of silent film music. “Sylvia II” does better, incorporating violins into the mix well, but those strings are the only element separating this from any other fast-paced rock song on the radio, all chugging guitars and wordy lyrics.
The words, above all else, end up being the most consistent frustration on Sylvia. According to Butterfly Assassins’ MySpace regarding this album, “there’s a concept, a feel, a style, and a strange fascination with a Russian woman named Sylvia.” Unfortunately, the group fails to do anything with this story, even though the songs on the disc sometime sound as complex as a book. The times the band weaves together specific stories, as they do on both installments of “Sylvia,” the results sound convoluted. This blog for the Niteskool music video for “Sylvia II” features a “video concept” that describes the story of the songs well: confusing beyond belief.
When Butterfly Assassins do combine classic instrumentation and rock into something daring and unique, however, they not only create great songs but also something epic and forward-looking, the sounds of yesteryear being adapted in a new, exciting way. “Exit Here” brings mournful piano to the front, alongside violin and bass guitar, to create music perfectly suited for the drive to the cemetery (I mean that in the best way possible) with a good chorus complete with creepy, fuzzy backing vocals. And, even though the lyrics leave something to be desired, “Sylvia I” shows that Butterfly Assassins know how to craft a dramatic and catchy rock song using every instrument around them, each sound as essential as the next.
Ultimately, Sylvia is the sound of a band getting better as the album progresses. After two pretty, piano-powered instrumentals finding the band flexing their classical muscle, Butterfly Assassins go on a four-song run featuring the album’s best cuts, each one better than the last. “Lightfight” and “Turn It Off” are the album’s best flat-out rockers, excellently combining classical instrumentation with charging guitars. The final pair of songs, “White as Snow” and “Velvet Sky,” stands out as Sylvia’s best, two songs that start out skeletal and end up as powerful bursts of noise and emotion.
Butterfly Assassins’ debut album stands as a good work, a bunch of ambitious college kids trying out a bit of everything they know. Sometimes they sound bland and mopey, but at other points they sound adventurous and genuinely emotional. Sylvia begs the question which way the band will head into next, especially after laying out so many possibilities. Butterfly Assassins can get away with so many different-approaches-with-varying-results on their debut album, but need to focus more for their next release to truly rise above the mess of other bands boasting guitars and violins in their line-up. Especially since the group shows so much potential to create something unique.