Album Review: Butterfly Boucher Butterfly Boucher tyler mcloughlin

It feels like a let down when an artist uses a self-titled release name in the midst of a career. In the case of Butterfly Boucher however, a self-titled third album is a defiant statement of independence following her major label battles and perhaps an exercise in self-indulgence considering her broad musical life that includes a role as Sarah McLachlan's touring bassist.

Boucher provides a wonderfully strong, individual indie pop style of the class of Adalita and Sianna Lee, though she can be gentle and even romantic too, as heard on Warning Bell and Not Fooling Around. Opening with a playful jigsaw of off-kilter melodic embellishments and clever beats, 5678! is an absolute delight and a fine example of Boucher's natural vocal magnetism. Why she would interrupt the joy midway with the voice of a hipster granny warbling: “So you think you can dance, do you?” followed by a jungle boogie percussion breakdown is anyone's guess, though it does open the door for a killer dancefloor mix.

Boucher shows off an edgier, percussion heavy take on Unashamed Desire, a Missy Higgins co-write currently doing the rounds as her comeback single. It feels an odd inclusion at first, especially as it takes a few bars to deviate from Higgins' backing vocals, though it's a superb example of allowing a simple structure to push the emotion of a song to the forefront. And by album's end, across the drama of Don't Look Back, the sassiness of I Wanted To Be The Sun and the full punchy band sound of The Weather, Boucher has more than asserted herself as a confident, distinctive creator across a range of instruments that includes a genuine voice.