“At once comforting and unnerving, Beauty Pill bring a fresh intelligence to lyrical cynicism, and capably invokes the chaotic noise of metropolises. – Pitchfork
“fans will recognize many of the group’s signatures in the new recordings – Clark’s
melodic stamp, a balance of male and female vocals, and evocative lyrics that
frequently dovetail between everyday life and the politics of race
and class.” – Washington City Paper
After over a decade with Dischord Records, the DC-based band Beauty Pill has signed with the new New York-based label Butterscotch Records.
Of the label switch, Beauty Pill’s Chad Clark says: “I will always feel love and gratitude toward Dischord. I don’t know where I’d be in my life if it weren’t for Ian MacKaye believing in me and choosing to amplify and distribute my work. But it goes beyond that. What you learn from Ian is how to address the world on your own terms.”
Clark, who is well-known for his work as a producer/engineer on albums by Fugazi, Mary Timony, Dismemberment Plan, Bob Mould, and Marc Ribot adds “Butterscotch was founded by a producer/engineer named Allen Farmelo, a guy I very much respect and admire. He’s full of integrity. In one early conversation, I said ‘I don’t know if Beauty Pill’s music fits in anywhere,’ he responded simply and flatly ‘I don’t care. It’s great art. That’s all that matters to me.’ In many respects, Allen reminds me of Ian.”
Farmelo is thrilled to add Beauty Pill to the roster, and says “It’s important that Butterscotch slowly builds a roster of artists who are breaking new musical turf, upholding really high standards of fidelity and also taking a daring approach to live performance. The stuff Beauty Pill has been up to in the past couple years embodies everything we value, and Chad and I are sympatico on a lot of levels, even our politics. And that matters to me.”
Butterscotch will be releasing Beauty Pill’s highly anticipated new full-length album, Beauty Pill Describes Things As They Are. The release will be the band’s first new album in 10 years and features the return of multi-instrumentalist Abram Goodrich [bass, guitar, drums], who was in the original Beauty Pill trio that made The Cigarette Girl From The Future. In the Spring of 2015, the label will also release an expanded vinyl re-issue of their acclaimed record The Cigarette Girl from the Future which received a 9.0 on Pitchfork in it’s initial pressing.
Beauty Pill recorded the forthcoming album as part of a commissioned experimental art project called “Immersive Ideal” where the band allowed people to watch them create the music. Beauty Pill essentially made their creative process into an exhibit in an art museum. It was an exercise in radical transparency. Fans who visited Artisphere enjoyed it and for the band, it was a fun but challenging experience.
In 2008, a rare, random virus entered Chad Clark’s heart and nearly killed him. Viral infections in the heart are nearly always fatal. His life was saved by an open heart surgery.
Clark says “There is no denying that our album is laced and informed by the specter of mortality. Sometimes it comes up directly, as it does on the songs ‘Near Miss Stories’ and ‘Dog With Rabbit In Mouth, Unharmed.’ There is some darkness to it, but we tried to make that darkness as vibrant and electric as possible. I guess you could call it ‘colorful darkness.'”
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