Aside from say the Chemical Brothers, Gorillaz and to a lesser extent Faithless, trip-hop isn’t exactly a hugely famous or saleable music genre this side of the Pacific, and Eastern European trip-hop is more or less anonymous. So Polish newcomers Scoffers have their work cut out if they want to make a splash outside their native land. Debut album Special Nothing doesn’t exactly set off a tsunami, but it does send out a few ripples.
The group’s milieu is plain from the start; slippery grooves, laid back beats, some neat violin and sax solos from Weronika Kowal and Nastazja Babska and crisp, lyrical tales of love and craziness. The combination of rock guitar, violin, sax, electronics and scratching mixed with lead vocalist Pony’s heavily accented Amy Winehouse-meets-Shirley-Manson voice could have been a difficult one to pull off, but it’s unquestionably well put together and more than competently produced.
Opening tracks Boys, Joulie and Not Satisfied are reminiscent of Garbage’s quieter moments, You has all the hallmarks of a 90s Euro-ballad (in a good way) and Boring Game’s guitar line gets behind the catchy defiant lyrics to create a powerful combination that the other players weave in and out of to good effect. There’s very little pretension in evidence, too, as each song starts as concisely as it ends, avoiding the risk of lengthy instrumental breaks, pace changes or audioscaping, only mixing up the grooves on the end of Psy, which switches between a pleasantly relaxed hip-hop line and a more soulful acoustic arrangement. Everyone involved clearly know their limits, which surprisingly turns out to be the album’s biggest pitfall.
From start to finish there’s a lack of expression that comes across and takes away from the accomplished musicianship on display. Each track hints at the potential for a big chorus, a key change, or a percussive ending, but the payoff never seems to arrive, instead simply carrying on along the same narrow musical line where it began tiill the end. It’s not helped by the drumming, which never really leaves sampler territory, and is conspicuous in its reluctance to change up the beat, particularly on the heavier and faster tracks.
Pony’s vocals are found wanting at these points as well, restrained when she could have been aggressive, relaxed when flamboyance might have worked better, and the scratch beats get more than a little repetitive after a few tracks. It says a lot that probably the best track on the album is a remix, the Makul version of Boys (presented here alongside a version of Joulie with added saxaphone parts) twisting that song into a vacant, echo-y creepfest that sets it apart from the rest of the record.
The problems could have something to do with most of the songs being sung in the group’s second language, because Scoffers’ sound really kicks into gear on Polish language tracks like Ludologia, Wstęp Do Językoznawstwa and the aforementioned Psy. Pony shows more range on these cuts, working the lyrics much more deftly, the relaxed vibe of the backing works better, and the electronic bells and whistles are less grating. The band sound more comfortable at these moments than on the more crossover-oriented tracks, and you wish they did it more often.
Overall, there’s a lot to like about Scoffers – they’re tight, controlled and focused, even edging into fun territory when at their best, but they miss too many chances to make their songs the crowd-pleasing, memorable creations they could have been. A little more gusto and a little more abandon in the right places, and the band’s future could be very bright indeed, with big-name venues and stadiums beckoning, but as it is, Special Nothing is sadly nothing special.
One for the future.
[easyreview cat1title=”The Arcade Verdict” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”6.5″]
