| altsounds | July 16, 2009 09:06 PM |
BUTTERFLY BOUCHER ANNOUNCES WORLDWIDE RELEASE OF HER ACCLAIMED SECOND ALBUM
Coming off a whirlwind of shows including a Los Angeles residency at Hotel Café, singer-songwriter-musician BUTTERFLY BOUCHER has announced that her second album SCARY FRAGILE--which is enjoying early critical acclaim--will receive an official CD release via Nettwerk on September 15. Mark Jowett, one of the principal founders of the Nettwerk Music Group, explains: “On behalf of all at Nettwerk, we're thrilled to be releasing Scary Fragile, which is a great testament to Butterfly's brilliant songwriting and her abilities as the consummate musician.” BUTTERFLY has confirmed a special New York City performance for Thursday, July 30 at Housing Works Bookstore Café (126 Crosby Street, NYC; Time: 7:00PM, $15). She’ll join Erika Wennerstrom of Heartless Bastards for the “Live For Home” event; all proceeds from the show will benefit Housing Works, the nation's largest community-based AIDS service organization. Since 1990, Housing Works has helped more than 20,000 homeless and low-income New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS: Housing Works: Social Enterprise: Bookstore Cafe: Bookstore Cafe: Bookstore Cafe. In radio news, BUTTERFLY was a featured performer on KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic” program in Los Angeles. BUTTERFLY performed songs off SCARY FRAGILE--first single “Gun For A Tongue,” “A Bitter Song,” “Keeper,” “I Want To Feel Love” and the title track--plus fan favorites “Another White Dash” and “ I Can’t Make Me Love You,” off her debut album Flutterby. To listen and watch the full performance on KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic” with host Jason Bentley (89.9 FM Los Angeles), visit: KCRW | 89.9FM - Media Player. Produced by David Kahne (Paul McCartney, Regina Spektor, Kelly Clarkson, The Strokes), SCARY FRAGILE captures Butterfly’s edgy mix of soaring pop-rock melodies and unflinchingly intimate lyrics, delivered with her trademark vocal dexterity. Check out a sampling of early critical acclaim for SCARY FRAGILE: Quote:
“Aptly named Scary Fragile, the new set showcases her torched-up mix of rock punchiness and pop accessibility, delivered in that charmingly accented voice and with a hot band that is mostly half her on bass, guitar and keyboards. Boucher’s now part of the Nashville music collective Ten Out of Tenn and also does sideline gigs, most famously playing drums on Mat Kearney’s ‘Breathe In, Breathe Out’ and dueting with David Bowie on his remake of ‘Changes’ heard in “Shrek 2.” But this Buttterfly deserves to fly alone and very high.”
--Jonathan Takiff, PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, May 22, 2009
“It’s hard to pick one or even a few songs on the album that stand out because they are all so melodically and lyrically beautiful.”
--Natalie Gelman, IPRONG (The magazine for iTunes and iPod users), July 2009
“What she has in SCARY FRAGILE is a consistently engaging, thought-provoking and entertaining collection… The material on SCARY FRAGILE is more challenging than Flutterby, lacking the light-hearted and off-the-wall lyrical elements of her first album and making greater use of tempo changes and mood shifts. Flutterby demonstrated that Butterfly had her brilliant moments, but with SCARY FRAGILE, she has made an album both worthy and reflective of her brilliance.”
--S.J. Dibai, ONE NOTE AHEAD.COM (Blog), May 26, 2009
“Boucher’s debut, Flutterby, was filled with catchy, captivating tunes, but it was equal parts pop and rock, a hybrid which seemed to confuse her record company. SCARY FRAGILE rocks much harder, with its excellent opener ‘I Found Out’ leading the way in fast-paced fashion. Ten more compact, hooky tunes follow, several of them thumping, charged rockers such as ‘Just One Tear’ and ‘Keeper’ that feature full-bodied choruses, pinpoint tempo shifts and Boucher’s supple vocals. She’s a versatile performer, she writes great songs and the release of SCARY FRAGILE definitely has given her the last laugh.”
--Sam Gnerre, DAILY BREEZE (Santa Monica, CA), June 4, 2009
“SCARY FRAGILE finds the singer continuing to nurture her mix of hook-laden pop/rock while still maintaining a lyrical integrity that many pop songs throw right out the window in favor of a radio hit. Highlights from the album include the driving beat of ‘Just One Tear’ and the smokey single, ‘Gun For A Tongue.’ Milder songs like the affecting ‘A Bitter Song’ are noteworthy in that they show Boucher’s talents don’t lie solely in how well she can steer an up-tempo song.”
“The opening track ‘I Found Out’ starts out with the vocals, ‘I found out, I can only be who I am, I can only do what I can’ which is exactly what Butterfly does throughout the entire album, that is produce amazing melodic, yet some-times aggressive songs. The title track ‘Scary Fragile’ is an amazingly simple acoustic piece that is so riveting in that it shows off not only Butterfly’s amazing vocal ability, but her ability to tell a story with simple lyrics.”
“The main highlight here is the dark ‘A Bitter Song,’ a great intimate track that focuses squarely on Boucher and a piano.”
--Mark Fisher, COLPOP.NET, (Colossal Pop blog) June 2009
“After quite a wait, Boucher returns with SCARY FRAGILE, an eleven song collection featuring her fresh and unique mix-up of pop and rock with a firmly indie sensibility. Her vocals swing effortlessly from powerful and full to whispery and fragile and her music is full of great hooks that defy classification. The haunting title track finds the artist contemplating the world around us today, singing ‘It’s scary to be fragile in this turning world/The world turns me upsid-down.’ It’s rare to find such a deep vulnerability in song form, and it’s beautiful. With refreshing openness like this, she will be an artist to watch.”
“This ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ favorite dishes out melancholy piano ballads alongside more uptempo confessionals in the vein of Jem or Sarah MacLachlan.”
“First single, ‘Gun For A Tongue,’ was finished with another producer, Brian Malouf. Boucher had initially brought the lyric ‘Watch out for this girl, she has a gun for a tongue’ and a James Bond-ish lick to Kahne, but the two had differing ideas about bringing the song to life. The menacing melody of the verses reminds me a little of Lykke Li's ‘I’m Good I’m Gone,’ though Boucher's recording predates it; perhaps she still picked up some tricks from her Swedish studio time? But then the chorus kicks in, so squarely rooted in Boucher's soaring-pop sweet spot (a la ‘Another White Dash’), and I'm reminded why I fell for her the first time around.”
--John, POPSERVATION (Blog), June 9, 2009
“Boucher has crafted an album that combines a strong indie-pop sensibility with a personal and often touchingly humorous lyric style.”
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