Kipp Boucher

3 years since his last full release, Kipp Boucher’s new EP Joy of Life is out on the 3rd of November via Hideous Mink Records.

Born and raised in Brighton, Kipp Boucher's arresting brand of orchestral soft-rock is a cognizant nod to supposedly simpler times. Inspired by the likes of Scott Walker, Margo Guryan and Harry Nilsson, the London-based crooner peels back the curtain on a bygone era viewed so often through rose-tinted glasses; drawing parallels to lament the social condition of the modern day. Taking lyrical cues from idols such as Randy Newman and Dory Previn, the facetious musings of a young man listless in the face of today's ideological sprawl are juxtaposed with gorgeous string arrangements which tie the old to the new, in a way not too dissimilar to contemporaries including Weyes Blood and Father John Misty.

Produced by Jake Smallwood with orchestration by Milo McKinnon, Joy of Life is a five-track whistle-stop tour of the manic, the shiftless, the sardonic, the desperate and the hopeful feelings that plague most minds - but it is also an exercise in appreciating the madness; with a swing of the hips and tongue in cheek.

Speaking on the new EP, Boucher reflects: “These songs all kind of started during lockdown, when my mental health got… interesting, and the songs I was writing became less pointed and narrative-driven, more a reflection of the somehow simultaneous brain fog and mania I was going through. As life started to feel more like a sort of bad trip, my music kind of followed suit. The idea of the real world started to blur, and the songs started to swell beyond the piano into this illusory state, with strings and horns and all kinds of other unrealistic and expensive tangents - all tied to reality by that humbling magic of feeling blue. Lyrically there’s sadness in there for sure, but there’s also a kind of comfort I find when I’m right in my lane; being a little bit weird with it, oversharing and unnerving a few people along the way.”