Danielle Boutet - Pièces

Back in stock and through the Stargate once again with Freedom to Spend for their latest obscuro uncovering from the alternative dimension of the lost 80s. Who is Danielle Boutet and just how has she made her way into our lives nearly 40 years after the fact? The answers are predictably vague, hinging on a slim set of facts that describe her as a self-released Quebecois musician with a single cassette to her name, recorded to four track by occasional collaborator Sylvie Gagnon. The music is suitably impressionistic of such mystery, a minimalist rendering of chanson, ethereal electronics and smoky jazz exoticism that is served well by keeping much of the finer details hidden in the shadows. Pièces is avidly more French than Canadian, and would have perhaps even felt a little out of time in 1985, more aligned with the Franco-rock experimentalism of the mid 70s centred around Tapioca - think the European arthouse sensibilities of Besombes Rizet, Pascal Comelade's Fluence, Philippe Grancher et al lent a homespun DIY enigma, or what Anne Gillis might have sounded like had she ended up on Recommended. There's some version of the world out there in the multiverse that explains away Boutet's history, but i don't think our experience of Pièces would especially benefit of it. Somethings are better not fully understood. Take some time to luxuriate in the unknown before the veil is inevitably lifted.