From singing about his family to the current political climate in the United States, this album is the most personal work Bryce Fox has released.
Bryce Fox’s new album, The Butterfly & The Bomb, showcases the beautiful evolution of an artist in their craft. Being a father and a husband has shaped his outlook on life and has given him a new perspective on the world. Instead of just being concerned about himself, he is now concerned with things that will impact his family. All of this has had an effect on the themes in his music as well.
The first track on The Butterfly & The Bomb is “Butterfly.” This track starts with an acoustic guitar that explodes into a percussive instrumental. “Butterfly” is a song Bryce Fox essentially wrote as a present to his child. He also generally uses the track to refer to his child. Because of how fragile a butterfly is, it needs to be protected from outside influences that may harm it. In this case, the thing that he is protecting his child is “The Butterfly” and the “from” is “The Bomb,” or all the horrible things going on in the world that threaten the joy of his family.
The third track is called “World’s on Fire.” This track is a call to action about political divisiveness and focusing on the wrong things. “Dreaming of a world that could’ve been, instead we push and we pull and we fight until we fall,” sings Bryce Fox. This lyric is the catalyst for the rest of the track, saying that instead of infighting until the situation is worse, people should work together against their common enemy. When people spend their time infighting, it becomes more difficult to fight against corrupt politicians and policies.
Track eleven is called “People Watching.” On this track, Bryce Fox sings about a woman who seemingly likes the voyeuristic act of people watching her. Whether it’s people observing her in everyday life, talking about her, or taking in that she’s acting on her impulses to put “her hands all over [him],” the unnamed woman loves the attention of being watched. It seems Bryce Fox does not mind the attention either.
The last track, “Sense of Humor,” starts with a slow acoustic guitar and keeps a mellow, calming tone throughout the song. With a tinge of sorrow, Bryce Fox sings “Some say that God’s got a strange sense of humor.” This is a phrase that someone might say when something doesn’t go as planned but has a relatively ironic outcome.
The Butterfly & The Bomb conveys themes of resistance, happiness, and optimism, even though the world feels as though it is falling apart. The Butterfly & The Bomb is out on March 21. Bryce Fox will be the special guest on Awolnation’s The Phantom Five Tour, starting on March 27.
