“Music fans know the delicious pleasure that comes from discovering a new act….This Sydney duo are a major discovery.” - Kathy McCabe, Daily Telegraph.
When classic pop songwriting, beautiful vocals and scintillating production combine, the magical result is butterfly 9. The Sydney duo of Suzy Connolly and Matt Fell revitalize and reassure with their beautifully crafted music, not afraid to keep it real as they unconditionally sing their way into our hearts.
In their short career to date, butterfly 9 have signed with Mushroom Music Publishing worldwide, achieved widespread Australian radio-play, featured in a string of international hit TV shows and have been hand-picked by the Counting Crows as support for their 2003 Australian national tour.
Now Suzy and Matt have emerged with their confident and vibrant second album, ‘one for the birds’, set for release in Australia via Craving Records/Reverberation in October 2005. To celebrate, butterfly 9 have just spent several months in the US and Europe on a promotional tour, taking in several co-writing appointments with noted music industry veterans along the way. (including… b9 – shall we name one or just send the sentence after the words promo tour?)
The new album, ‘one for the birds’ is the culmination of a year of intense recording. “We initially planned to go into the studio and bang out 10 songs in a couple of weeks,” says Matt, “but we just kept writing and recording more and more songs as we went along. I had so much fun producing this record and I think it just sounds more confident.” With almost 30 songs completed butterfly 9 had the luxury of putting together what might be called a definitive “best of” for the new album.
Says Suzy, “‘one for the birds’ feels like a great leap forward artistically. In the process of making it, we discovered more about who we are and exactly what kind of music we want to create. Matt’s production has brought out a greater musical range and band dynamic compared with the first record. In writing these songs, I took time to let the stories unravel and take the direction they needed to take. As a result, they really resonate personally for me. Some are observational, some personal, but all of them aim to be honest reflections of this crazy experience called life.”
As a teenager Suzy performed regularly as a jazz vocalist, but struggled with the shyness of youth, yet to find her own voice. Much like two of her heroes, Chrissie Hynde and Andy Partridge, who also overcame introversion, Suzy ironically found a way forward by satisfying an urgent desire to write songs and express herself musically and artistically. Luckily for us, she hasn’t looked back since.
The butterfly 9 creative union began in 2000 when Suzy Connolly, then a solo performer and songwriter invited her partner, musician and producer Matt Fell to join her on a music business outing to LA. Suzy would spend a year deciding exactly what to take and respectively leave from the music industry’s global capital. Importantly, the pair realised romantic chemistry wasn’t the only kind of alchemy shared between them.
A batch of songs was swiftly co-written which would form the basis of their first album. Suzy and Matt found themselves creating music that drew on their shared influences; from Elliot Smith, Amy Mann and The Fountains of Wayne through to the immortal B’s (that’s Byrds, Bacharach, Beatles and Beach Boys).
butterfly 9’s refreshingly direct and natural sounding debut album (self-titled, ABC/Universal) led to wide Australian exposure on national radio stations NOVA and ABC Radio, plus television video shows Music Max and Rage. As they developing a keen live following, the pair performed live-to-air on Australian TV institutions Sunrise, Mornings with Kerri-Anne, and The Secret Life of Us. The album’s first single, ‘another perfect day’, was featured on Aaron Spelling’s TV sensation ‘Summerland’. Back home in Australia their songs have repeatedly graced hit shows ‘Home and Away’, ‘Blue Water High’ and ‘Crash Burn’.
The latest album ‘one for the birds’ features an irresistible wealth of brand new quality pop songs. The album veers effortlessly from expertly produced up-tempo tracks like ‘hey girl’ and ‘i love the summertime’ to the heart-stopping, beautiful quieter moments found in ‘someday when you’re gone’ and ‘dorothy’ which are content to shine in their simplicity. This is music to drive to, wake up to, live and love to. Resplendent, vital and true.
