What it must be like to be a butterfly! Life must be an endless
symphony for the creatures, one of flitting from plant to plant, bringing joy
to any and all passersby who encounter them and their colorful, vibrant wings.
Their leisurely pace reflects a carefree approach, and we humans who view them
love them because we can imprint our own desires onto them. We see butterflies as
symbols of a relaxed freedom, one that we can strive toward – there has to be a
path to such happiness for us. And then, once we’re as equally happy, we can
also reflect that happiness! Circle of life.
But that’s not really how it is, is it? Butterflies are insects, and
like all insects, butterflies are fragile, subject to temperature shifts,
predators, and objects much larger than them in motion. Therefore, what appears
to be a carefree existence is anything but – butterflies have a lot going
against them. Pharmakustik and Thorsten Soltau seek to emphasize this in The She-Butterfly, a tape on the edge
between “(Color Variant)” and “(Pupation).” The two artists highlight the
minutiae of the life of the butterfly, from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to
the emergent creature we’re all familiar with. Each stage is fraught, as
anything from ants to spiders to wasps to birds to lizards can chow down on
these creatures, so they have to be vigilant. That’s why they’re so bright –
they can’t defend themselves, so they look poisonous. Would you eat a
butterfly? Despite how delicious they might be, I would not.
And so Pharmakustik and Soltau reveal the actual hardscrabble life of a
butterfly, one in search of nectar and wary of almost constant death. Their samples
and loops shift minutely, the most unassuming sounds taking center stage, the
repetition, especially of “(Pupation),” a key to unlocking the natural cycle
these insects undergo. In fact, I feel like I’m in my own chrysalis, pupating
away as the chemical composition of my body shifts to metamorphose it. It’s
really weird!
https://pharmakustik.bandcamp.com/
https://thorstensoltau.bandcamp.com/
https://park70.bandcamp.com/
--Ryan
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