She-Devils
She-Devils
SECRETLY CANADIAN
7/10
A few years ago, Audrey Ann Boucher and Kyle Jukka crossed paths while separately exploring hazy, dreamy sounds and vibrant visuals at Torn Curtain, a shared rehearsal space in Montreal. She-Devils was born soon after, marrying Boucher’s vocals with Jukka’s production.
Though they’ve been making music together since then, they’re only just now releasing their self-titled debut album. As Boucher and Jukka learned how to complement each other, they took care to work in a way that wasn’t forced, but rather driven by intuition. The result is sublime ’60s pop in outer space. “Where is the place in your story for me?” asks Boucher on “Hey Boy,” amidst swirling guitars and twinkling loops. “Give me some space / I want to be part of it, too.” The gorgeous “Blooming” sounds like a collaboration between Animal Collective and Roy Orbison (if only).
The atmospheric songs on the album stand on their own, but they’re also polished and ready to soundtrack a movie montage. This is fitting; the band, who direct their own videos, have said they want their music to feel “as visual as possible.” The surf-inspired sound on She-Devils is owed to the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, which Boucher has said she loves, along with the films of Gregg Araki and Andy Warhol.
She-Devils keep a careful balance of weirdness and sweetness throughout the album, which is on full display in “The World Laughs.” In the video, Boucher sings, while perched on a seashell, “I want to go inside of you / And control the way you move… Inject you with stranger things.” There’s been music like this before, but not for a few decades, and not usually done this well. Boucher and Jukka created She-Devils to explore the unknown, and She-Devils is subsequently a beautiful dream and a great escape.
