Review Vol 2 The Scattering: Trifonic Records – August 2010
Slow Burning Car
Volume 2 – The Scattering
Trifonic Records
Released: 2009
I’m going to start giving awards for pretentiousness in press releases and I would nominate the press release for Slow Burning Car’s album for the first one. Winning it for me was the phrase “compositional application in the audio realm” had me rolling about the floor laughing. They could just have said that they write songs, couldn’t they?
However, “Volume 2 – The Scattering” itself is far from pretentious and, in fact, provides convincing reasons as to why you should investigate American rock music today. This album is indeed full of mainstream riffs but where it really scores is in its stylistic diversions thus providing the listener with a surprisingly coherent stroll through hard rock and associated genres. Just to give a couple of examples, “First Class” is positively British with its undercurrents of seventies rock and pop and there were times when I thought I was listening to a Slade cover. “Harum Scarum”, on the other hand, takes a bouncy approach to garage rock and the crosses it with a Brian May style guitar solo played on the bus to Texas.
There is no shortage of new ideas on this album and likewise no shortage of clearly identifiable influences but what makes it special is the degree of care that has been put into assembling these component parts into a coherent whole. Even better, the musical spirit of the participants hasn’t been compromised in the process making this a rewarding album that you will want to build a long term relationship with. Someone someday is going to hail this album as a classic.
www.bluesbunny.com
Scotland Aug.2010
Available from CD Baby.
