CD Review: Scofferlane - Veto

Written by Peer Lebrecht Tuesday, 14 February 2012 16:22

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Artist: Scofferlane
Title: Veto
Genre: Indie / Postpunk / Rock
Release Date: 17th February 2012
Label: Danse Macabre

Album Review

Meanwhile Germany has to deal with the inexorable breath of a Siberian coldness, deep in the heart of Russia a torch is burning, blazing and fuming, scooting and with a filthy brightness. It seems that the Muscovite underground is boiling and bubbling, steamed up by a creative energy, unspent impetuses and a disobedient dynamics, what on the other hand find its origin in the European heartland again… Balancing energy? One of the hottest spots, besides great (named) bands like GALVANIC ELEPHANTS or SCHEINEMASCHINEN, is SCOFFERLANE, a four-headed piece, whose 2010 debut ‘Snippet’ and the following EP ‘Whatever’ caused aroused attention among specific circles, whose radii will certainly expand now, cause their current output ‘Veto’ is something you shouldn’t miss if you are in Indie Rock, Post-Punk and a proper pinch of riotousness.

It’s really hard to define the band’s musical language and you can confidently call it a complicated undertaking if you are forced to label it. So at first you’ll get into stumbling if you want to outline the influences and references you associatively believe to recognize - there are those shades of a rearing, THE DOORS-like blues, scattered with a psychedelic patina (featuring prominently in songs like ‘What Do You Propose’ or ‘Ode’), coming along with the same vanguard vocabulary you could swear to find in some of the more unwieldy stuff of Bauhaus too (‘Rubber Arms’, ‘Harish’). And there is this nihilistic void, perceptible pulsating in those small and dusty rooms, wallpapered with a monochromacity, that reminds of JOY DIVISION’s kaleidoscope (‘All because of Us’), you can find Kurt Weill crossing paths with that guttural malice of Rockabilly (‘On Predators’), and honey-coloured melodies duelling with balladic antics, illuminated by a pale moonlight, and seamlessly I could go on… and on top of all is that voice of Matt “Stuart Stumpman”, that seems to wear dozens of masks, slipping another shape as soon as you believe to have figured it out. It owns that smoky coolness (Jim Morrison would know what I mean), that undresses irony and vulnerability with the same credible conviction, wearing despair and dignity with the same smile.

It could have been easy to went astray among all these genres, stylistics and sceneries, but the album manages to keep a logical complexity throughout all the songs, to keep its own colour even though there are dozens of moments you think: I have heard that before, somewhere… sometime…! Maybe it’s owed to the heartfelt joy of playing and the disrespect for categories that makes all sound so familiar and so thrillingly new and fresh in the same way! It grabs you and wraps you with its density and while you were swallowed up, it’s just cool and feverish… excitingly great. Nothing to add…


Tracklist

01. She Fell
02. What Do You Propose
03. I Awoke
04. Veto
05. Single Finger
06. On Predators
07. Rubber Arms
08. So Pretty
09. Home
10. Ode
11. Last Chance Rope
12. Harish
13. All Because Of Us


Line-up

Matt “Stuart Stumpman” – Vocals
Konstantin K. – Guitars
Anton C. – Bass
Senya K. – Drums


Website

http://www.scofferlane.com/


Cover Picture





Rating

Music: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 8 / 10