Very sad to hear about the way too young death of Joe Cassidy of Butterfly Child - purveyors of gorgeous dreampop from Northern Ireland.
The debut Butterfly Child EP Toothfairy came out on A.R. Kane's label H.ark! in late 1991, simultaneously with the debut EP from Papa Sprain, his friend Gary McKendry's group.
I made both the EPs singles of the week in Melody Maker (see below) and around that time spoke with Joe and Gary for a label profile of H.ark!.
Another Butterfly Child EP, Eucalyptus, followed on H.ark!, and then they recorded an album each for a succession of labels: Rough Trade (Onomatopeia), Dedicated (The Honeymoon Suite), and HitIt! Recordings (Soft Explosives).
Here's an interview with Joe around his 2015 album Futures done by The Thin Air.
And here is a link to the bandcamp for the 2020 album Our Life in the Desert by My Bus - a joint project by Joe and Gary McKendry. There, you can read a nice detailed account of the pair's journey through music:
"The emotion comes from a friendship lost, renewed and remembered, or as Joe puts it, 'a love story. One between two friends, the music they share, ex-girlfriends, pals who are no longer with us and the ghosts of old haunts long gone. It is a longing for a Belfast and a time that never really existed.'”
And here's a nice remembrance of Joe from Ned Raggett.
And a tribute from Stuart Bailie at the Belfast Telegraph.
