Butterfly Boucher:
Scary Fragile

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Rock chanteuse draws from ’80s pop

Butterfly Boucher slid onto the scene in 2004 with the release of her debut album, Flutterby, but at the time garnered more press for her fascinating biography than her killer voice. This time around, things are different. Boucher has plenty to say on her second LP Scary Fragile, all of which is more interesting than her name (yes, it is real), her six sisters, or her childhood in Australia.

She is a rock chanteuse who draws equally on 80’s-era pop like Freddy Mercury and The Cure as she does on contemporaries Kate Nash and Ida Maria. She’s got an ear for what makes a hooky chorus, evident on “Bright Red” and “Just One Tear.” The title track’s disappointingly staid melody might leave you cold, but Boucher makes up for it with standout track “They Say You Grow.”

On Scary Fragile, Boucher has assembled an album’s worth of snappy three-minute rock songs Britt Daniels would be proud of. From the hard-hitting percussion that kick-starts “I Found Out” to the last haunting strum of redemption ballad “Bitter Song,” Boucher draws on a simple, powerful formula: hook, verse, chorus. And we fall for it, hook, line, and sinker.