Massive Attack | Butterfly Caught
Massive Attack's "Butterfly Caught" - how 3D crafted a masterpiece from his own voice, manipulated orchestras, and digital transformation, defining the 100th Window era in 2003.
Story Behind “Butterfly Caught”
The Moth in the Mirror
There’s something haunting about the genesis of “Butterfly Caught.” By 2003, Massive Attack had become something fractured. Mushroom had departed for good after Mezzanine. Daddy G stepped back from production duties. That left Robert “3D” Del Naja essentially alone in the studio with producer Neil Davidge, tasked with the impossible: creating a Massive Attack album when Massive Attack was no longer quite massive.
“Butterfly Caught” emerged as the second single from 100th Window, and it represented both a vulnerability and a statement of artistic control. Del Naja wasn’t hiding behind guest vocalists or sampling culture. He was exposing himself—literally using his own voice as the foundation for nearly every electronic element in the track. The irony was profound: in an album about isolation and post-9/11 paranoia, Del Naja created something so personal and layered that it became almost impersonal. The butterfly caught in the song’s title could have been a metaphor for anything—false friends, compromised ideals, a self dismantled and transformed.
Recording Sessions and the 50-Piece Orchestra
The recording of “Butterfly Caught” happened between 2002, a pivotal year for both Massive Attack and the world. The strings for the song were recorded by a 50-piece orchestra in June 2002 at Sony Studios in London. This wasn’t samples or synthesized approximations—this was a full orchestral commitment to creating depth and texture within a primarily electronic framework.
What made this approach remarkable was how Del Naja and Davidge deployed the orchestra. Rather than using strings to add traditional orchestral pomp (as some producers might), they became part of the overall production architecture. The violin would later be described by Del Naja himself as existing in a liminal space—neither fully Eastern nor Western, but something caught between worlds, much like the butterfly in the song’s narrative.
Working with just Davidge during this period forced a unique collaboration. Del Naja had initially conceived of 100th Window in its untitled form in early 2000, eventually assembling various musicians and experimental approaches before discarding most of the material by early 2002 when the group had become “very unhappy with the shapes being formed”. By the time “Butterfly Caught” was locked in, it represented the distillation of that painful creative process—knowing what not to do had become as important as knowing what to do.
“Butterfly Caught” Recording and Production Details
The Voice as Instrument: 3D’s Total Vocal Architecture
What separates “Butterfly Caught” from typical electronic production is the radical decision to use Del Naja’s voice as the primary sound source. 3D’s voice serves not only as the vocals for the song but also in other ways that are not immediately obvious. The bassline of Butterfly Caught, for instance, is 3D’s voice, but slowed down and worked upon. Nearly all the electronic sounding layers of the track are manipulated vocals.
Producer Neil Davidge explained the production approach: “That was from one of those all-night sessions that I did! I think they were originally some cymbal sounds, and again, I stretched them until they became something completely different and the harmonics within the sounds themselves became the more dominant features. Then I took those harmonics and created the notation using Speed to alter it beyond all recognition.” This wasn’t just production—it was alchemy, transforming raw materials into something unrecognizable yet emotionally present.
The bass line specifically showcases this transformation. According to Davidge: “We pitched it [3D’s vocal] around, put it through Rectified and various other plug-ins to create that texture, and then edited that to create the bass line.” What listeners hear as synthesizer work is actually human voice stretched, pitched, and processed until it becomes purely textural. This created a strange paradox: the song is more “produced” than almost anything Massive Attack had ever done, yet paradoxically, it feels more intimate and vulnerable because its foundation is Del Naja’s breath, his inflection, his humanity.
The Orchestral Integration and Studio Philosophy
Recording primarily at Sony Studios in London (with string recording in June 2002), the production emphasizes a kind of controlled chaos. The orchestra doesn’t dominate—instead, it exists as another layer among many. Davidge and Del Naja’s production partnership was essential: “If there were neither one of us in the studio then nothing would happen. D has a very unique way of seeing a project, be it a musical one or visual one, and I’ve got the ability to turn what he’s talking about into actual musical form, so it’s pretty essential that the two of us are both in the studio.”
The mixing work (by Mark Stent) ties everything together without oversimplifying. Each element gets space to exist while remaining part of a larger whole. The cymbal samples that became harmonic foundations, the bass made from vocal manipulation, the orchestral strings that sound simultaneously classical and alien—they coexist in a carefully balanced universe where nothing gets sacrificed for the sake of another.
Notes About “Butterfly Caught” by Massive Attack
Release Date: June 16, 2003 (single), February 10, 2003 (album)
Duration: 7:36 (album version), approximately 4:32 (radio edit)
Genre: Trip-hop / Electronic / Downtempo
Album: 100th Window (4th studio album, track 5)
Featured Artist: None (3D/Robert Del Naja vocals)
Writers/Producers: Neil Davidge, Robert Del Naja
Label: Virgin Records
Chart Performance: Charted in UK; over 20+ million Spotify streams
Notable Context: Second single from 100th Window; featured elaborate music video by Daniel Levi
Massive Attack “Butterfly Caught” Era Band Details
Album Details
Album: 100th Window
Release Date: February 10, 2003
Label: Virgin Records
Producers: Robert Del Naja, Neil Davidge
Recording Studios: Sony Studios (London), Christchurch Studios (Bristol)
Recording Period: 2000-2002
Album Concept: Post-Mezzanine introspection; first album without samples; exploration of isolation and digital production in post-9/11 climate
Critical Reception: Initially mixed; later reevaluated as sophisticated and underrated; reached #1 on UK Albums Chart despite commercial uncertainty
Band Members/Personnel
Robert Del Naja (3D) - Vocals, Production, Arrangements, Design
Neil Davidge - Production, Co-writing, Arrangements
Alex Swift - Programming, Keyboards
Angelo Bruschini - Guitar
Damon Reece - Drums
Jon Harris - Bass
Stuart Gordon - Violin
Skaila Kanga - Harp
Craig Pruess - String Arrangements, Conductor
Mark Stent - Mixing
Lee Shephard - Recording Engineer
Mike Ross - Recording Engineer
Production Notes
First 100th Window album without founding member Mushroom (Andrew Vowles)
Grant “Daddy G” Marshall opted out of production but remained credited as composer on select tracks
First Massive Attack album to use no samples; emphasized original composition
Live violin on 2003 tour performed by Lucy Wilkins; later removed for 2006 tour onward
First performed live on March 11, 2003 at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia; played continuously through first half of 2003 tour before gradually disappearing
Featured on numerous chill-out compilations globally post-release
Interesting Facts About “Butterfly Caught”
The Music Video as Personal Metaphor
The accompanying video by South African director Daniel Levi transformed “Butterfly Caught” into something beyond the song itself. The video featured 3D in a series of body horror sequences where his body was transformed into that which resembles a Death’s-head hawkmoth while a live moth fluttered its wings in time to the lighting in the room, which themselves flashed in time to the beat. The transformation was visceral—not magical, but grotesque and intimate.
What’s remarkable is how Del Naja himself interpreted the video in context of his own life circumstances. 3D reflected on the moth imagery: “It’s not deliberate, it’s the director’s vision, but it’s another self-fulfilling prophecy isn’t it? I’m not going to martyr myself with what’s happened this year, but I will turn into a moth. I will become uglier and darker and lonelier and more undesirable, because that’s the way it’s got to be this year.” The butterfly caught wasn’t just artistic metaphor—it was confession.
The makeup application itself became legendary. It took approximately 4 hours to apply, suggesting that the transformation was as important as the performance. You could hear it in Del Naja’s voice: the vulnerability of someone being slowly consumed by their own production.
The Violin Between Worlds
One detail that demonstrates the sophistication of “Butterfly Caught” involves the string arrangement’s cultural positioning. Del Naja described the violin: “What I like about the violin in Butterfly Caught is that it is so non-definable; it sounds both oriental and western at the same time, as though it originated in Istanbul, when the Bosporus was still the limit between East and West.”
This comment reveals something essential about how Massive Attack was thinking about 100th Window. They weren’t creating a “British” album or even a “Western” album—they were creating something that existed in transit, geographically and culturally. The violin becomes a bridge between traditions, just as the song’s production bridges vocal and electronic, organic and manipulated, clarity and opacity. The butterfly caught is caught between worlds, unable to settle anywhere, which is precisely what the production achieves sonically.
Common Questions
Q: Who sings on “Butterfly Caught” by Massive Attack?
A: Robert Del Naja (3D) performs vocals on the track. The song was written by Neil Davidge and Robert Del Naja. What makes this unique is that Del Naja’s voice isn’t just singing—it’s been extensively processed and manipulated to form nearly all the electronic elements in the track.
Q: What is “Butterfly Caught” about?
A: The meaning is intentionally ambiguous, though interpretations often involve themes of false friendship, betrayal, and personal transformation. The “butterfly caught” metaphor suggests something beautiful and natural being trapped, distorted, and transformed into something unrecognizable. Some listeners interpret it as commentary on fame, identity loss, or emotional vulnerability.
Q: Why does “Butterfly Caught” sound so different from other Massive Attack songs?
A: 100th Window was the first Massive Attack album to make no use of existing samples and contained none of the hip-hop or jazz fusion styles the group were initially known for. Additionally, with Mushroom departed and Daddy G absent from production, Del Naja took unprecedented control, resulting in a more personal and experimental sound.
Q: When was “Butterfly Caught” recorded?
A: The song was recorded in 2002, with orchestral strings recorded in June 2002 at Sony Studios in London. The full album 100th Window was released on February 10, 2003, with “Butterfly Caught” released as the second single on June 16, 2003.
Q: How does the bassline in “Butterfly Caught” work?
A: This is one of the track’s most innovative production choices. The bassline of Butterfly Caught is 3D’s voice, but slowed down and worked upon through various plug-ins and processing to create that texture. This approach exemplifies the track’s philosophy of using the human voice as raw material for electronic transformation.