The CD itself has been out since September, but last week American recordlabel “Dilated Time” released a Black Vinyl 2LP version of the album. And even though it’s not a new release, I still felt like I had to review it anyway.
Cuushe is nowadays known as a modern dreampop singer. Last year she had a tour here in Europe that I unfortunately had to miss. But since then I have been keeping a close eye on her. “Butterfly Case” is her second released album and consists of 10 tracks.
Tracklist:
01. Sort of Light
02. I Dreamt About Silence
03. Butterfly
04. I Love You
05. Twilight
06. I Miss You
07. Lost My Way
08. Swing Your Heart
09. Steamy Mirror
10. Hanabi
The album starts with “Sort of Light”, a song that uses a repetition of a melody throughout the track. The moment Cuushe starts singing I get goose bumps. Her voice is soft and echoes while repeating the lyrics a couple of times. The repeated melody and lyrics can, however, really get stuck in your head, something I personally don’t mind.
The second track, “I Dreamt About Silence”, manages to keep up the dreamlike feeling the album started off with. It brings you into a relaxed state and drives away any thoughts you might have at that point, completely clearing your mind for a while.
That relaxed feeling didn’t last long though as the third track, “Butterfly”, was more upbeat. Instead of the dreamlike vibe of the last two tracks, this one made me want to dance. In the track Cuushe sings in two parts, one part on the foreground and one part is backing vocals. The two eventually get together in the refrain, complementing each other to create a nice whole.
The fourth track “I Love You” wasn’t new to me. I already heard it through the video clip that was posted online. In the track, multiple layers of Cuushe her voice can be heard. The track seems to break away from the rest of the album. As the music goes on, the song seems to liven up. At first everything may seem like a pile of scratched together sound and that may have been the case, but in the end, it’s a really sweet and nice song.
http://vimeo.com/78174038
When you get to the fifth track, “Twilight”, you will be surrounded by the electronic melody and the almost monotone voice of Cuushe, which both work perfectly in harmony with one another.
The next song, “I Miss You”, starts where the previous track left off: snapping of fingers. However, Cuushe her voice is not as strong as in the other tracks, and there are certain points where the instruments take the upper hand. Which aren’t bad things. Better yet I think the song ends too quickly.
“Lost My Way”, number 7 on the album, appears to be a calm relaxing song at the start. As soon as Cuushe starts singing after a minute the opposite seems to be the case. The melody then starts to bloom and several layers of Cuushe’s voice create a background choir like feel. It makes for a really nice piece.
At track number 8 there’s “Swing Your Heart”. The melody was very confusing when the track started. I thought Cuushe had suddenly switched the genre of the music halfway through the album. As soon as she starts singing however, my confusion is gone. It still fits amazingly well with the rest of the album as it turned out to be a relaxed, slow and sweet song yet again.
“Steamy Mirror” seems to start with raindrops, though I would rather describe it as waterdrops falling as you’re taking a nice shower. The sound of the track is sweet and warm, as if Cuushe sits next to you while you are taking a relaxing, hot shower.
The last track of the album is “Hanabi”, Japanese for fireworks. But does it also end the album with a bang? The music is heavier than the rest of the tracks and I most certainly like it! The ending sounds like she put in some sounds of old filming devices, as if to tell she’s looking back at the past. It definitely is a great song to conclude the album with.
The titles of the album suit each other really well and seem to be telling a story about the feelings one has as they fall in love. The dreampop gives off spring and summer vibes to perfection. I can totally imagine myself sitting in the sun, with a cool drink, listening to this at full volume. That would be the perfect experience to listen to Cuushe in my opinion.
And even though summer is still far away, please keep this album in mind.
You can buy the album through recordlabel Flau on iTunes. You can also stream and/or buy it on bandcamp.
Rating: 90/100
