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On their second release the Milwaukee practitioners of "End Timey Music" are a bit more focused than on their previous outing. Not to worry though, they're just as dark and still dedicated to their unique path.
The Scarring Party eschew contemporary (read: "rock") instrumentation and focus on accordion, tuba, banjo and the like. They've got a touch of pirate blood in them: pillaging elements from a wide variety of pre-WWII musical genres: vintage jazz, 20's crooners, british musichall, folk.. but the plundering isn't haphazard and the end result is a wonderful composite perfect for any neo-vaudevillian or macabarte enthusiast. They aren't just some throw back artist though, they're too cynical and witty for that. The songs on "Come Away from the Light" may sound old but they have a young soul. They take what to could seem dated to some and inject an urgency into it, they are to Leon Redbone what the Ramones were to the Rolling Stones.
There are a few fairly restrained numbers on this album ("Leslie Ann Merrimac", "Everything I Touched Caught Fire"), but on the whole the songs are brief and rollicking. There's a bouncy, evil oom-pah feel that is both sinister and utterly accessible. Instrumentation (and vocal styling) aside tracks like "After the War", "Left Hand Tied" and "Eye" are wonderful bits of catchy, infections pop.
If there's a challenge for new listeners (other than their failing to see beyond the band's instrumentation) it's lead singer/songwriter Daniel Anthony Bullock's voice. Like (the Tiger Lillies') Martyn Jacques' falsetto some newcomers can't seem to get past Bullock's vintage vocal stylings. This is too bad, Daniel's voice is the sound of the band in a nutshell: instantly identifiable, clearly talented, at once retro and modern, off-beat and beautiful. He's also a wonderful lyricist.
Some of the songs are surreal or strange, like "When the World Was Flat" ("Noah's ark sailed on a dinosaur's back"). But many of them have a finely honed humor that is coupled with sardonic social commentary. "Anywhere" casts a hard eye on this planet we live on ("It's a beautiful world, if you've been lied to, by parents and priests") concluding that "Nothing in this world is beautiful,
anywhere ever". The simple logic of "See Evil" is "people are the evil of the world". But it's the recording's second track, "After the War", that stands out and wins the Bertolt Brecht award for for wedding the sinister to the sublime.
The band wants us to "Come Away from the Light", why? So the can get a better look at our faces? To pull us from happily-ever-after salvation? Or just to get us into a dark corner where they can slip in the knife...
This isn't a perfect album, ("Everything I Touched Caught Fire" drags a bit) but it is well worth your time and attention. Recommended.
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The Scarring Party:
http://www.scarringparty.com/
http://www.myspace.com/scarringparty
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Ok, since this band is from Wisconsin I can't resist doing a Reverend Nørb-like summation to this album...
BEST SONG: "After the War"
BEST SONG TITLE: "Everything I Touched Caught Fire"
AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: Apparently the songs are protected by a copyright that "can both sever limbs and unleash plagues of biblical proportions."
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