Major label refugee Butterfly Boucher returns with her sophomore solo effort, Scary Fragile. Taking nearly three years to get the album released, Boucher has certainly had an uphill battle. In that regard, this album is a victory no matter how you slice it. In a lot of ways this is very similar to the keyboard heavy pop that has been making waves the last few years, only its mostly devoid of the actually keyboards.
Opening with the indie pop sound of “Bright Red” and the slightly more interesting “Keeper,” Boucher initially sounds like early career Sheryl Crow. To be honest, most of this record sounds both familiar and slightly uninspired. I don’t mean that as knock against Boucher really, the whole album just seems two seconds behind greatness if that makes any sense. The main highlight here is the dark “A Bitter Song,” a great intimate track that focuses squarely on Boucher and a piano. On the other hand, the swinging, multi-layered, “For the Love of Love” has a hook that just doesn’t let go. I find it a bit odd that the highlights on this record are such for totally opposite reasons but it is what it is.
Overall this is an okay record. At no point did I want to turn it off but nothing really grabbed me and sucked me down the rabbit hole either. I feel that the album is fairly non-committal about what it wants to be. Scary Fragile will likely appeal the most to fans of danceable indie rock.
Reviewed by Mark Fisher
