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Frequently Bought Together
Product details
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Track Listings
| 1. Faith Unfolds |
| 2. Days Untrue |
| 3. Cast Into Seasons |
| 4. Amber Hands |
| 5. Summon The Sound |
| 6. Sentinal Bloom |
| 7. Requiem |
| 8. Paris |
| 9. Water |
| 10. Whitechapel |
Product Description
Review
S.C.U.M. - or to give them their full originally-invented-by-would-be-Warhol-assassin Valerie-Solanas name, Society For Cutting Up Men: essentially a cheery manifesto about how all men are a bit rubbish, basically - hark back to the clattering industrial sounds of yore, managing to evade the ham-fisted attempts of lesser acts who've looked to the era for inspiration.
There is something over-archingly immense about how the band have transformed from the embryonic state of 'all talk and no trousers', and are now bursting into a thrilling declaration of 'actually, there's more than just trousers, there's hats too'. After initially arriving in 2008 as an act born from the Underage (festival, club nights etc) scene, and featuring a brother of a Horror and the son of an Add N to (X), they seemed a bit like a psychedelically incestuous art-rock EastEnders.
Comparisons with The Horrors are rife, mainly because of the connections and a similar outlook and sound. But then, we all thought we had the measure of Faris and company once, and now they've turned into the best band in Britain. And, really, there's no reason why S.C.U.M. shouldn't follow them.
Amazingly haired soundscapery and ominous and intriguing racket is S.C.U.M.'s stock in trade. Opener Faith Unfolds bowls about optimistically for a while, before swooning into a motorik glide, while the synthy washes of Amber Hands suggests there was a roaring trade going on for early Simple Minds albums around Hoxton at the start of this year. Thomas Cohen's voice fits perfectly, with a baritone full of foreboding and illicit promise. Requiem builds into a coalescent swarm of noise, while album closer Whitechapel moves gracefully with a touch of cosmic disco among its swathes of cello and mellotron, and then breaks into a slight canter.
With high-concept sounds and an ace sleeve, Again Into Eyes is a bold debut, and an extremely rewarding experience. Initial listens may paint it as a bit of a pretentious dirge, but dive into it and soon warmth and light flood in. There's a sense that S.C.U.M. are only just beginning, and the promise here suggests you should mark them for future greatness.
--Ian Wade
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Product Description
Debut 2011album! Motorik post-punk 'n' melodramatic art-rock 'n' from the London sensations, for fans of The Horrors and Psychdelic Furs. Includes "Amber Hands" and "Whitechapel". (aka S.C.U.M)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
If you are into synth laden,moody indie that is catchy and mysterious,you are likely to enjoy this.Caught the band at Exeter Phoenix a couple of weeks ago on the first leg of their NME tour,on the reccommendation of my teenage son.Very enjoyable gig,clearly a band who have a strong musical direction,the performance was charismatic and powerful and compentently played-the songs interesting and memorable.Naturally I have borrowed my sons copy of the album,which sounds remarkedly like the live performance,it has become compulsive listening.Influences? sounds both live and recorded are reminiscent of Nick cave,Suede through to Eno.Talked to the band afterwards-really nice bunch of guys (and girl)asked them about their influences,and they seemed non-plussed,only mentioning Echo and the Bunnymen.Will stick my neck out and say it's one of the best indie type albums of the year.Great stuff.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
S.C.U.M piqued my interest when they emerged a few years back as a fashionita noise band along with The Horrors,a band i despise.To be honest i just liked the name at first which is from Valerie Solanos men hating "feminist" manifesto,which by the way is an unremmiting piece of garbage written by an ugly maniac.By rights i should hate this band on looks alone and the fact that singer Thomas Cohen is dating Peaches "i am goin to vomit"Geldof.Boy the other band members must be peeved as the press attention focuses in on yet another celebrity relationship.Loads of tabloid shots of the couple sat at the front of milan fashion shows,dawdling down Portobello Road in a fog of sandals,sarongs and sytrofoam cups full of mocchachinos,frapachinos...more likely iced tea.Also Thomas Cohen is a sickening poser,the pouting is out of control all leading to a rather pronounced punchability.But i gotta admit i loved this album.Self conscious,gloomy,big,annoying,portentous,fey....moody fringes and swaying.It has this early 80s quality of self importance which i dig like say Bauhaus or Japan.Plus stonking tunes such as single Amber Hands,Days Untrue and Whitechapel full of drama and ambition.This is a perfect album for the poetic 15 year old outcast who reads good books,a soundtrack to your romantic gloom.Equally its perfect for sad,32 year old,frustrated popstars like me who pathetically still read the n.m.e and think they are clever for spotting a bands reference point.A great british album and a great divisive,possibly annoying, band.At the end of the day i am jealous of these trendy singers....i want the sarong and styrofoam cup.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
S.C.U.M. are a superbly intense and moody bunch of boys from
Sarf East London whose debut album 'Again Into Eyes' is made of
the kind of stuff to make your hair curl and teeth tremble in
their sockets. This is a good thing! There is an arch seriousness
in the project which embraces the darker shadows of the eighties
but transforms them into something entirely relevant for these shaky
uncertain times. I can imagine them dressed in basic black playing for
all they are worth on a semi-lit stage in a subterranean cavern.
There is a sinister energy in their performances of these eleven
splendid inventions which I found curiously appealing. In Thomas
Cohen they have a wholly credible front man. Swathed in reverb,
he snarls and growls his way through these small epics like your
Mother's worst nightmare. The battenberg would almost certainly
melt into a pale pink and yellow puddle in the centre of the dining
room table if you brought him home to tea! Suburbia beware!!
Wayward reflections aside, the songs really are very well constructed.
Moody, unhinged and occasionally (witness the perfectly wonderful
'Paris') strangely affecting, these young gentlemen are mapping out
a territory all their own. There are shades of Brett Anderson evident
in Mr Cohen's voice which I found particularly enjoyable. The opening
track 'Faith Unfolds' is a song which Suede would have been proud to own.
The Psychedelic Furs, on their best form, also came to mind from time to
time in compositions like 'Amber Hands' and the delicious 'Whitechapel'.
The sepulchral thrash of 'Summon The Sound' and luminous 'Sentinel Bloom',
however, tips a hat to the gloomy interiority of Joy Division and lives
to see another day. 'Requiem' and the small but perfectly-formed 'Water'
are, in their own distinctive way, the icing on another kind of cake!
For my money the desolate soundscape of 'Cast Into Seasons' is the best of
the bunch. It grabbed me like a cougar by the throat and wouldn't let go!
One can only begin to imagine where the band will go from here. I am more
than persuaded by their talents and await developments with bated breath.
Highly Recommended.
Sarf East London whose debut album 'Again Into Eyes' is made of
the kind of stuff to make your hair curl and teeth tremble in
their sockets. This is a good thing! There is an arch seriousness
in the project which embraces the darker shadows of the eighties
but transforms them into something entirely relevant for these shaky
uncertain times. I can imagine them dressed in basic black playing for
all they are worth on a semi-lit stage in a subterranean cavern.
There is a sinister energy in their performances of these eleven
splendid inventions which I found curiously appealing. In Thomas
Cohen they have a wholly credible front man. Swathed in reverb,
he snarls and growls his way through these small epics like your
Mother's worst nightmare. The battenberg would almost certainly
melt into a pale pink and yellow puddle in the centre of the dining
room table if you brought him home to tea! Suburbia beware!!
Wayward reflections aside, the songs really are very well constructed.
Moody, unhinged and occasionally (witness the perfectly wonderful
'Paris') strangely affecting, these young gentlemen are mapping out
a territory all their own. There are shades of Brett Anderson evident
in Mr Cohen's voice which I found particularly enjoyable. The opening
track 'Faith Unfolds' is a song which Suede would have been proud to own.
The Psychedelic Furs, on their best form, also came to mind from time to
time in compositions like 'Amber Hands' and the delicious 'Whitechapel'.
The sepulchral thrash of 'Summon The Sound' and luminous 'Sentinel Bloom',
however, tips a hat to the gloomy interiority of Joy Division and lives
to see another day. 'Requiem' and the small but perfectly-formed 'Water'
are, in their own distinctive way, the icing on another kind of cake!
For my money the desolate soundscape of 'Cast Into Seasons' is the best of
the bunch. It grabbed me like a cougar by the throat and wouldn't let go!
One can only begin to imagine where the band will go from here. I am more
than persuaded by their talents and await developments with bated breath.
Highly Recommended.
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