3rd Line Butterfly - Ecstasy Beyond Violet

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* Random components included in this album are configured with equal probability.

3rd Line Butterfly:

Sang Ah Nahm: Vocals, Guitars

Kiwan Sung: Guitars, Vocals

Nam Yoon Kim: Bass, Vocals)

Additional musicians:

Saron Shin, drums on track 1,2,4,5

Sol Han, electric piano on track 3, strings on track 5

Kyung Chun Go, synth solo on track 1, strings on track 5

Jong Min Lee, electric piano on track 2

Nak won Sung, saxophone on track 3, flute on track 5

Executive producer: 3rd Line Butterfly

Producer: 3rd Line Butterfly 

A&R: Choi In Hee (Oreum Entertainment)

All songs composed, written and arranged by 3rd Line Butterfly.

Recorded by Nam Yoon Kim at Southpole Sound Lab and by Kiwan Sung at Kumba's Home Brew (Winter 2024 - Summer 2025)

Mixed by Nam Yoon Kim at Southpole Sound Lab (Spring 2025 – Summer 2025)

Mastered by Andy 'Hippy' Baldwin @Metropolis Studios

Dolby Atmos mix and master by Adrian Hall for Z Management

Designed by Jaemin Lee

Cover photo by Susan Wilkinson on Unsplash

『Ecstasy Beyond Violet』 Liner Notes

3rd Line Butterfly's welcome new EP 『Ecstasy Beyond Violet』, released after eight years, brings us, as its title suggests, the ecstasy of encountering a 'beyond violet' (ultraviolet) realm—an invisible area not easily seen by us.

In retrospect, 3rd Line Butterfly has always been this way. This is because, instead of aiming to construct a grand narrative or convey a specific linguistic meaning, 3rd Line Butterfly has focused on the seemingly impossible attempt to musically realize a scene through auditory objects, namely sound. However, 3rd Line Butterfly's musical approach should not be understood merely as an effort to reproduce sounds of real events, or as a form of film music that tries to realize the sounds of objects in a specific scene as realistically as possible. Rather, the way 3rd Line Butterfly's music operates is closer to the aim of pure poetry in literature, which emphasizes the phonological layer while maximally excluding the semantic layer of language to evoke a particular emotion.

The lyrics of track 2, , and track 3, , may feel somewhat fragmented, and Kiwan Sung's poetic lyrical style (as in 3rd Line Butterfly's previous works) plays a pivotal role in acoustically depicting a scene in 『Ecstasy Beyond Violet』. 

Equally important is Sang Ah Nahm's vocal, returning after a long time from distant France. Her vocals consistently create a dreamy atmosphere based on her unique husky quality, functioning not to infuse specific meanings or implications into the music, but as a literal 'voice' that operates as an independent musical element. 

Furthermore, Kim Nam Yoon's bass, which firmly anchors the album amidst irregularly blended electronic sounds and psychedelic elements, acts as a centripetal force, allowing 3rd Line Butterfly to successfully evoke an image musically in 『Ecstasy Beyond Violet』.

However, this does not mean that the new EP 『Ecstasy Beyond Violet』 merely follows the strategies of its predecessors. On the surface, 3rd Line Butterfly once again attempts to expand its genre spectrum. Of course, this is also not an entirely new story, as 3rd Line Butterfly has always sought change. While always anchored in the foundation of rock, they have never remained still. Sometimes lyrical noise, other times psychedelic synthesizers and guitar loops, even danceable electronic sounds... the centripetal sound and its manifestations in 3rd Line Butterfly's music have constantly evolved. And now, in 『Ecstasy Beyond Violet』, they branch out in multiple directions simultaneously. For instance, the fast BPM drums heard in the middle and latter parts of track 3, , are closer to genres like drum and bass or jungle, which 3rd Line Butterfly has not attempted before. Track 5, <20 Years Ago Today>, evokes a ballad-like atmosphere through calm vocals and a serene melody utilizing the flute, bringing to mind various genres.

Driven by these attempts at genre expansion, 3rd Line Butterfly acoustically depicts scenes with a different feel than before. For example, the synthesizer solo in track 1, , the keyboard in track 2, , and the flute in track 5, <20 Years Ago Today>, create a retro atmosphere rarely found in previous works, depicting somewhat relaxed and tranquil scenes. This is particularly noteworthy as it significantly differentiates itself from the direction taken in their 4th album 『Dreamtalk』 (2012), which created a tense auditory scene by achieving a multi-layered texture through members' choruses in addition to Kiwan Sung's psychedelic guitar sounds, and their 5th album 『Divided by Zero』 (2017), which foregrounded electronic sounds to create a danceable atmosphere.

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. I recite the names of the seven colors that make up the rainbow in order. But then, is there nothing after violet? Violet is merely the shortest wavelength of light that we can see with our eyes; it is not at the extreme end of the color spectrum. This is because ultraviolet light, which is invisible to our eyes but clearly exists, is located on one side of that color spectrum. What 3rd Line Butterfly makes us encounter in 『Ecstasy Beyond Violet』 are precisely such beautiful and wonderful light wavelengths that cannot be seen but still exist beyond violet. Just as the invisible light beyond violet envelops us, the ecstasy delivered by 『Ecstasy Beyond Violet』 quickly embraces us.

Jeon Dae Han (Popular Music Critic)

Author: 3rd Line Butterfly

Publisher: Sony Music Korea