Blonde Redhead

Blonde Redhead has long stood apart as a band whose sound shifts across noisy art rock textures and shadowy, emotionally charged pop while remaining anchored in a cinematic sense of dark romance. Early recordings and their 1995 self-titled debut carried clear no-wave edges and heavy pedal work, yet the music also drew from the films of Jean-Luc Godard and Pier Paolo Pasolini, the latter receiving direct tribute on the 1995 release La Mia Vita Violenta alongside nods to My Bloody Valentine and Fugazi. Collaboration with Fugazi’s Guy Picciotto shaped both 2000’s Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons and 2004’s Misery Is a Butterfly, two albums that balanced the group’s fragile beauty against sudden bursts of intensity. In the late 2000s and into the following decade the music grew quieter without losing its exploratory edge: 2007’s 23 refined and refreshed shoegaze well before its broader resurgence, while 2014’s Barragán carried minimalist experiments to their clearest endpoint. Their 2023 album Sit Down for Dinner arrived with the same aura of mystery that has always surrounded the trio.

Amadeo Pace, born in Milan and raised in Montreal, and his twin brother Simone moved to Boston to pursue jazz studies at the Berklee College of Music. After relocating to New York City they met Japanese film student and classical music enthusiast Kazu Makino in 1990 via shared acquaintances; she and Amadeo formed an immediate bond and began working together under the name Masculin Feminin. Titled after the Godard film, the project’s songs reflected shared admiration for Billie Holiday, João Gilberto, and the Rolling Stones. At Makino’s urging they began incorporating alternate tunings and greater volume inspired by My Bloody Valentine. With Simone joining on drums and Tada Hirano on bass, the group adopted the name Blonde Redhead in 1991, drawn from a track on DNA’s 1981 EP A Taste of DNA.

An early performance with Janitor Joe brought the band to the attention of Oxo Records, which issued their first single, “Amescream/Big Song,” in April 1993. After handing a copy to Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon following a Free Kitten show, they secured an opening slot on an Italian tour with the alternative rock veterans. A split single with Sammy appeared on Misha Records before the band made their Smells Like Records debut, the label run by Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley, with the single “Vague/Jet Star,” followed by “10 Feet High/Valentine.” Hirano’s departure led to Maki Takahashi joining in time for the first album. Produced by Shelley and released in January 1995, Blonde Redhead highlighted the group’s noisy guitar exchanges and minimalist leanings, with longtime friend Skuli Sverisson contributing bass. That February they released “Flying Douglas/Harmony” as part of Rough Trade’s Singles Club. Takahashi exited soon after, and Toko Yasuda, later of Enon and St. Vincent, came aboard to record September 1995’s La Mia Vita Violenta at several New York studios including the Magic Shop. The album drew inspiration from Pier Paolo Pasolini and featured instrumental touches such as sitar.

After Yasuda left, Blonde Redhead continued as a trio. Their connection to the Washington, D.C. punk community led them to invite Unwound’s Vern Rumsey to play bass on March 1997’s Fake Can Be Just as Good. Their first Touch & Go release, produced by John Goodmanson, underscored the push-and-pull between aggressive and delicate elements. The band dropped bass entirely for September 1998’s In an Expression of the Inexpressible, recorded at Hoboken’s Jolly Roger studio and co-produced by Goodmanson and Guy Picciotto; the album showcased cleaner sonics and stronger melodic focus. Also in 1998 they issued a single pairing a cover of Serge Gainsbourg’s “Slogan” with “Limited Conversation,” both later included on the Japanese edition of the album. They reunited with Picciotto for June 2000’s Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons, recorded with co-producer Ryan Hadlock at Bear Creek Studio in Washington State; the songs examined the romantic relationship between Makino and Amadeo Pace while extending the melodic and structural emphasis heard on the previous record. That October saw the release of the EP Melodie Citronique, which collected French- and Italian-language versions of several Lemons tracks along with “Slogan.”

In 2003 Makino sustained serious injuries after being thrown from a horse and trampled. Facial reconstruction surgery and the process of relearning to sing deeply informed March 2004’s Misery Is a Butterfly. The band’s first album for 4AD, it again paired them with Picciotto and Hadlock and included string arrangements by Eyvind Kang that heightened the chamber-pop fragility of the material. The record became their first to chart, reaching number ten on the Heatseekers Albums chart and number 180 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S., number 41 on the U.K. Independent Albums chart, and also appearing on the French and Italian Albums charts. February 2005 brought the Secret Society of Butterflies EP, offering alternate versions of several tracks and a collaboration with David Sylvian. The following year Makino contributed vocals to the soundtrack of the remake of Brian De Palma’s Sisters.

For the next album the band worked at New York’s Magic Shop and Stay Gold studios, handling production themselves with a spontaneous approach. Mixed by Alan Moulder and featuring Mitchell Froom, April 2007’s 23 blended swooning dream pop with detailed electronic layers. Widely regarded as a landmark shoegaze album, it improved on Misery Is a Butterfly’s commercial performance, reaching number 63 on the Billboard 200, cracking the Top Ten of the Independent Albums chart in the U.S., entering the Top 20 of the U.K. Independent Albums chart, and charting in Japan and several European countries. In 2008 Blonde Redhead composed the score for Kevin McAlester’s Dungeons & Dragons documentary The Dungeon Master, with an album of the score appearing in 2010. They contributed to the 2009 AIDS benefit compilation Dark Was the Night, collaborating with Devastations on “When the Road Runs Out.” Their following full-length, Penny Sparkle, arrived in September 2010. Recorded in New York and Stockholm with Moulder, Van Rivers, and the Subliminal Kid, the album steered toward a more minimal, electronic sound. It reached number 79 on the Billboard 200 and number 16 on the Independent Albums chart in the U.S. and number 41 on the U.K. Independent Albums chart. A July 2011 EP collected remixes of its tracks by Gayngs, Pantha du Prince, SALEM, and others. The band also scored the 2012 film The Commentator, which chronicled Danish filmmaker Jørgen Leth’s work announcing the Paris–Roubaix cycling race. Makino curated the benefit album We Are the Works in Progress, supporting the Japan Society and Architecture for Humanity after the 2011 tsunami and featuring contributions from Four Tet, Interpol, Nosaj Thing, and additional artists.

By 2013 Blonde Redhead had begun recording their next album with producer Drew Brown at the Magic Shop and Key Club in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Released through Kobalt in September 2014, the analog-focused Barragán favored sparse arrangements and reached number 180 on the Billboard 200 and number 29 on the Independent Albums chart in the U.S., while also charting in the U.K. and France. That same year the Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons track “For the Damaged Coda” gained renewed attention after appearing in the first season of Rick and Morty, becoming a streaming favorite through its association with the Evil Morty storyline and subsequent memes. In 2016 the Numero Group issued the box set Masculin Feminin, which gathered Blonde Redhead, La Mia Vita Violenta, and an array of demos, singles, and radio performances from the early period. Also that year the remix collection Freedom of Expression on Barragán Hard appeared, featuring reworkings by Deerhoof, Van Rivers, Nosaj Thing, and Connan Mockasin. New music returned in 2017 with the EP 3 O’Clock on the band’s own Asa Wa Kuru Records, featuring guests including Kang, Michael Leonhart, and Sam Owens. Makino released her solo debut Adult Baby in September 2019, recorded with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Greg Saunier, Ian Chang, and Mauro Refosco. In 2022 Blonde Redhead opened a series of shows for Tool, then delivered their tenth album, Sit Down for Dinner, in September 2023. Written across five years, the record reflected the isolation from loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic, Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking, and the urgency of cherishing the present.