posted 09-20-2001 12:21 AM               

My fondness for the band dada should be no secret by now, especially after May's story on the band and its fans. As mentioned in that article, dada's Michael Gurley and Phil Leavitt have formed a new group called Butterfly Jones; the band's debut album Napalm Springs is an impressive rock-pop album with solid musicianship, intelligent songwriting, and a number of catchy melodies.

Butterfly Jones sounds a lot like dada - it's guitar-driven, clearly rock but free of distortion and balanced by acoustic guitars and other instruments; the up-tempo songs are for the most part charged with full-speed-ahead enthusiasm; the ballads are thoughtful and emotional without going overboard into sappiness or melancholy; and Gurley's vocals are sharp as ever. There's a bit less emphasis on harmonies and layering instruments than what I'm used to from dada records, but the production is sharp, and if the songs are a tad on the spare side they're not lacking in punch. Musically, Napalm Springs is not a clone of dada, but if that band had released this album it wouldn't feel like a radical shift in direction.

Standout songs on the album include 'Suicide Bridge', which has some excellent work on violin, viola and cello. Like many of the songs on the album, 'Bridge' tiptoes on the line dividing hope and despair, with the narrator daring to lean toward hope - the bridge says, "In an instance everything can turn around/In an instance everything is lost/And all is found." (I've been listening to this song a lot lately.) 'The Systematic Dumbing Down of Terry Constance Jones' is a little bit odd, as Gurley gives a first-person perspective of the title character changing her ambitions to fit society's expectations - it's a very smart song, and I like it a lot, but I don't know if people will find it presumptuous that Gurley would assume to speak for women in this way. I hope not. 'Are We In Love Again' ought to be the theme song for every on-again/off-again relationship, and is darned catchy besides. I single these songs out because they're the ones I often hit 'repeat' to hear when I'm listening to this disc, but the whole CD is extremely worthwhile. Whatever band they're in, I hope Gurley and Leavitt keep writing and playing great songs like these.