Butterfly Boucher officially started her career as the bass player and background vocalist for a band called The Mercy Bell which never made much of an impact other than being on a couple of MTV most wanted collections. Flutterby is a most unexpected treat, a novel take on a solo female artist who confidently plays all of the instruments on these rousing tunes (thus serving as her own back up band), and emerging from her cocoon in glorious form. She's a mostly unknown commodity and by reading some early reviews of this record I wasn't expecting to like it, leave alone love it - which I most certainly do. As her name and the title suggest she flits about a number of styles, but a common thread of natural talent connect them like the fragrance of spring flowers.

This is a confident debut on par with Garbage's first and her rich arrangements and natural melodic sense reminds of Shirley Manson and the guys, but there is a lilt to these tunes, it's very much a good mood sort of record. And her musicianship notwithstanding, she's got a larynx to be reckoned with. On her slower songs her voice smacks of the rich maturity of Annie Lennox and often reminds of Beth Orton with that edge like a sharp piece of candy, she may not be the most profound lyricist, but these songs seem to carry themselves nicely no matter what she's singing about. These songs simply bristle with an upbeat tone that oddly enough reminds me a little of those wonderfully poppy tunes that Petula Clark scored with in the late 60's- "Don't Sleep in the Subway," "Downtown," this is seriously cool stuff, so don't for a moment believe that review that compares her to Avril Levine and Christina Aquilera, whoever wrote that review is an idiot.

This is novel gut-level pop music by a woman who knows how to set the hook at just the right moment and land you like a willing Rainbow trout. She'll no doubt make her mark and outlive the species she's named for. Seriously I can't imagine anyone not liking this record - so go buy it right now, unless you've got an aversion to happiness.