Since their 2018 debut album, Finding Beauty in Chaos, the musical collective Beauty in Chaos has become renowned for playing dark, melodic post-punk with a revolving cast of contributors, as overseen by leader/guitarist Michael Ciravolo and his songwriting partner Michael Rozon. Across the four studio albums that Beauty in Chaos have released so far – and the corresponding “re-envision” remix albums – there’s been an eclectic mix of guest musicians, including Robin Zander (Cheap Trick), Al Jourgensen (Ministry), Wayne Hussey (The Mission), Ice-T, Simon Gallup (The Cure), Ashton Nyte (The Awakening), Zakk Wylde, and many others. The group’s latest offerings are Dancing with Angels, which came out this past autumn, and a new re-envision album, Signs in the Heavens Reality Upside Down, that was released earlier this month. Calling from his L.A. studio, Michael Ciravolo gives The Big Takeover insight into what makes this unique communal band so special.
What’s the origin story for Beauty in Chaos?
MICHAEL CIRAVOLO: I was doing a Human Drama record – I’ve been in and out of that band for the last better part of my life – and I was a little frustrated with how the comeback record was going. And a friend said, “Why don’t you do your own record?” And for a short moment it was going to be a solo record – but I’m so blessed that it turned into this vehicle [instead]. We’ve had fifty people, if not more, that have either sung or played with Beauty in Chaos, or done remixes, so it’s really turned into this kind of revolving, evolving thing that I just seem to be the ringleader of. It’s special, I think.
How do you decide which artists will get the invitation to participate in Beauty in Chaos?
MICHAEL CIRAVOLO: It’s some luck. It’s divine intervention. With the first record that we did, it had a bizarre mix of people. People that you would never think would be sitting around a dinner table, having a drink together, but somehow it worked on that album. I don’t think it sounded like just a mishmash of songs. But I knew that, if it just was going to be a “who’s who,” like, “Who are you going to get next – are you going to go bigger?,” that it probably would have kind of petered out, or just be based on who’s doing it, not the songs. So it became really a joy to find less famous people, but certainly not less talented people, to be part of it. Because I certainly don’t equate talent and fame as one. There’s a lot of talented people that aren’t household names.
So when you’re creating these songs with the various contributors, you and Michael Rozon create the backing track first?
MICHAEL CIRAVOLO: Yes, and then every singer has always done their own melody and lyrics. But when we did that first record, we did the music almost instrumentally. We almost didn’t leave a lot of space. When I look back at it now, I shake my head and go, “Wow, it worked out.” Thankfully these talented singers found a way to work within what we sent them. I think as each record has moved along, we’ve given less and less finished parts to singers. They do their part, and then we can add around what they did. It just seems a little more collaborative, and it feels a little more like we’re in the room together.
On your latest studio album, was there anybody that sent something back to you that really surprised you?
MICHAEL CIRAVOLO: I think it would probably be “Echoes and the Angels,” which Leo Luganskiy did. At one point, before the record had a complete title, I was going to call it Echoes and Angels, and I had mentioned that to him. He took that phrase and turned it into a beautiful hook. He had this crazy [vocal] range that the song really showcased – and great lyrics and a very catchy melody. So I thought that was a really standout track on that album.
And same question for the new re-envision album: what really stands out to you on that one?
MICHAEL CIRAVOLO: I thought Julian Shah-Tayler really taking a chance and doing almost a bossa nova version of “Kiss Me goodbye” was just brilliant. It shows that you can strip a song away, and somebody can sit and play it on piano and it’s still a good song – and I think he showed that here. I think on the last two remix records, he’s probably done nine remixes. I mean, the guy is a machine. He’s fantastic. I also thought Ashton Nyte did wonderfully with the acoustic version of “Made of Rain.” I thought Carlton Bost, the guitar player in Berlin, did such a great dancefloor version of “Present Tense.” For these remixes, I don’t tell someone, “Hey, do it like this.” I go, “What do you want? Do you want the full track?” Some people take just the vocal and the tempo and do things. It’s almost like Christmas Day – something will come back and you go “Wow, that’s really interesting how someone took the original version and made it something different.” That’s why I think we continue this process of album re-envision.
From this latest re-envision album, you just released a new single earlier this month – tell us a little about that track.
MICHAEL CIRAVOLO: The ‘Crimson Cupid Mix’ of “Hollow” – which appears in its original form on _Dancing With Angels – is a complete re-envision of the song. Michael Rozon and I took Cynthia Isabella’s original vocals and built something new around it. Cynthia and I share a love of the great 4AD and Creation Records ’90s scene, so we thought it would be fun to pay a bit of homage, channeling the likes of My Bloody Valentine, which the remix name is a slight wink to, and Slowdive and Lush, to name a few. Our new video is sort of our visual “time-travel” back thirty-plus years! “Goth-Gaze” is a fitting description of it.
Given how unpredictable this project is, choosing to call this project Beauty in Chaos seems very appropriate.
MICHAEL CIRAVOLO: At that time in my life [when this band started], I thought the world was a bit in chaos. The political climate. The divide, it just seemed chaotic. And the idea of finding something beautiful in that fit what we do musically: the songs that are heavy and have really abrasive bits, but then a beautiful melody. Or we’ll do a song that’s very dream poppy and ethereal, with elements of chaos in there. So I think each of our songs has these bits of both, sometimes leaning more toward beauty ,and sometimes leaning more to chaos. I think one person’s beauty is different than another person’s beauty, but I think we all try to find whatever that happens to be to get through each day.
As you look back on what you’ve created so far with Beauty in Chaos, what are your overall thoughts about it?
MICHAEL CIRAVOLO: We’re fortunate. It’s turned into something bigger than I ever thought it would be. I just ask that if you hear a Beauty in Chaos song and you go, “I really like the singer,” please dive down [into their other work], because everybody that’s been on this has an amazing discography on their own. Some may not be famous, you may have not have heard of them, but I think everybody that we’ve brought into the family here is pretty special in their own right. I think you will find that Beauty in Chaos is a great vehicle for anyone to discover new artists, and I think that is a beautiful part of what Beauty in Chaos is.
