Butterfly Boucher

“Flutterby”

A’M

The female singer-songwriter market is perhaps one of the most overcrowded in music today. It seems like newcomers are popping up everywhere and, for the most part, nothing new is brought to the table. Butterfly Boucher, who is only a few years older then the average University of Massachusetts student, hopes not only to be a fresh voice, but also to be separated from the genre altogether. Her debut release, “Flutterby,” on which she is the sole musician, certainly stands apart from her contemporaries. This is fine by Boucher who would rather be seen as her own entity and stand far away from the singer-songwriter types.

“I like my music to be (set up like a band),” Boucher explained in an interview with the Collegian, ” … I don’t really want to come across as a singer-songwriter folk chick.”

And although she released the album under her own name, “Flutterby” isn’t really Lillith Fair material. Rather, it’s the type of pop music that ranges from fast tempo rock tracks (“Can You See The Lights”) to stripped-down ballads (“Never Leave Your Heart Alone”) but maintains its integrity all the way through.

The main reason that “Flutterby” doesn’t blend in with releases from faux-musicians such like Avril Lavigne is that Boucher is a true artist and musician, who played music practically her whole life.

“I remember…lying underneath the grand piano and just thinking that was the best…I would’ve been about two years old,” she said.

Boucher is a multi-instrumentalist, which shows on the record, she is fond of everything from the piano to the guitar and even the drums.

“The earliest memory I have of playing an instrument was…a tiny little traveling keyboard. I knew how to use the drum machine on that and make it fast or slow and change the beat … after that it would’ve been guitar and definitely when I was about 10 years old I was very serious piano…and drums as well after that. I kinda went in phases of what instruments I enjoy.”

While one might think that handling all the responsibilities herself might be a bit overwhelming but Boucher seems to be very capable of handling her duties. “I’m pretty fast [when it comes to recording the song] if I’ve got the idea in my head,” she said. “It’s just a matter of finding the right instrument and the sound that I’m trying to get out. We might do a drum thing and there’s a little squeak in the chair and I might want to emphasize that squeak so we’d go find the sound on a guitar, stuff like that. I move pretty fast, I grew up doing a lot of music sessions. I would be the session musician. I was 10 when I did that, so you build up a professional level of pace. We’d start at 11 in the morning and finish at 11 at night.”

Along with writing music Boucher maintains the important factor of integrity; the tracks on “Flutterby” all feel more real and honest then the songs that will end up surrounding Boucher on the radio.

“I didn’t get signed until I finished the album, which is great, I got to make the album that I wanted to,” Boucher comments. “Basically on the strength of the recording we got several different labels involved…I went with the company that least wanted to change the album. That’s an amazing position to be in, to be able to go ‘no, not you, not you, not you.'”

Now that “Flutterby” is on the market and Boucher has begun to tour she is already getting accustomed to the odd press comparisons.

“I’ve read the funniest comparisons, I keep reading them [and I think] ‘what…are you listening to the right album?’ I don’t mind, people like Fiona Apple and Aimee Mann…that’s flattering in a way; they are good songwriters and they aren’t taking their clothes off – well, Fiona did a bit,” Boucher laughs, “You can tell it’s the music to them and that’s the passion. It’s when I get compared to Avril Lavigne and that kind of thing [I think] what?!”

Boucher probably won’t be seeing to many more Lavigne references as word gets out that her album is about as genuine as it comes. While the “Flutterby” brand of pop-with-brains may not be for everyone, Boucher’s musicianship and authenticity is bound to be appreciated especially in an industry that is becoming more and more fabricated.