| Bruises and Butterflies is the debut solo album from Elisa Randazzo, a California musician, songwriter and clothing designer. For over a full decade, she designed by day and wrote and recorded music by night and she slept only in the sweet moments just before dawn, which guarantees maximum refreshment. During this time, she juggled a range of musical projects, writing and recording for her own band and playing with others, like Drag City's own Red Krayola she was one of the featured lead voices on 2007's Sighs Trapped by Liars. If you've worn Elisa's Dusty of California or Cameo clothing lines (or admired them from across the party) you may have a bit of an idea about her music: elaborate design, immaculate construction, a retro vibe freshly conceived. Is is her sound as well as her look. Elisa's music was previously showcased in the band Fairechild, a group formed around Elisa and her now-exhusband. Bruises and Butterflies is a personal work that stands outside the boundaries of her previous musical projects. Friendship lost is the main thrust, but fortunately, friendship found is at the other end of the long night/thrust. Underneath the elegiac California ennui of Bruises and Butterflies runs a bloody gurgling of rejection and outrage. Drawn from the bottom of the well of Randazzo's broken marriage, Bruises & Butterflies uses a musical palette of British folk and the mythic shadows of classic west coast rock to paint the portrait of a desecrated woman, attempting to understand her own heart. As we promised, there are glimmers of resignation and resolution for the future. And indeed, the process of making the album brought new people into Elisa's orbit. Guitarist Aaron Robinson became a songwriting partner over the course of many late night recording sessions. Additionally, Elisa met legendary 1970s British folk singer Bridget St John (a hero of hers and ours) during the time the record was being made. They became fast friends and eventually co-writers of two songs on this album. |
