A Native American cultural exhibit at the Montclair Museum of Art presents the butterfly as a symbol of hope, transformation, and tangible representations of ancestral spirits. From Mar Stellium’s point of view, butterflies can feel more like a tangle of electrical wires circulating currents of stress and uncertainty through your guts.

In December, the Asbury Park, New Jersey songwriter, promoter (Black Lipstick), and photographer dropped “Butterflies,” a superb and self-reflective debut single that investigates the health of relationships from the unsettling crossroads of certitude and speculation.

“It’s happening again,” Mar Stellium admits, offering a familiar missive to any listener who has ever grappled with a mental spiral. We’re not always certain of the trigger, but the sensation is described masterfully by this dream-pop purveyor: “That creeping feeling, crawling like a centipede, inching closer and closer to me. It tickles my stomach, which responds with a nauseating turning. I’m churning, wanting just to be.”

A density exists in this track, as Mar Stellium’s intimate prose on miscommunications, misinterpretations, and frayed heartstrings is anchored by the weighted paces of a rounded acoustic guitar arrangement and trudging percussion.

In the chorus, Mar Stellium wonders why the sensation in their stomach is referred to as “butterflies,” when it feels more like a nose-dive before a plane crash. “Are they just fluttering in circles ’til they die?”

There’s something powerful about an artist who can craft a recognizable song; not in melody or instrumentation, but in the way you can see yourself in a narrator’s discomfort. That familiarity can quiet a racing mind. That connection can quell a pounding heart. It’s a sort of assurance that what you’ve felt is more common than you thought, and maybe you’re not so alone after all. Mar Stellium’s “Butterflies” is that sort of gift from the ancestral spirits, a beacon of hope with the capacity to transform a mindset…I can’t wait to hear what comes next.

Stream “Butterflies” below, and follow Mar Stellium for show announcements and new music.

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