Silver Scooter: Orleans Parish

With indie-rock and indie-pop at an all-time glut, guitar-led bands are at a severe disadvantage in this age of novel inter-genre crossovers. On paper, Austin's Silver Scooter might not seem like a good bet to break out of that gulag. A bass/guitar/drums trio playing songs about failed relationships How new is that The members of Silver Scooter apparently realize, however, that subtle production touches and sharp songwriting can help any group get by, and that earnest sad-sack singing invariably beats cute-but-catchy indifference. Still, who would have imagined that a relatively straight-ahead indie-pop record like Orleans Parish could do so much to stick out from the crowd Silver Scooter's mellow yet anthemic music recalls such melodramatic acts as Seam and Versus—especially on the cello-enhanced "New Orleans"—yet the strum and pluck of singer/guitarist Scott Garred is backed by a staid but inventive rhythm section that's reminiscent of New Order as much as traditional college-rock favorites like The Wedding Present. Bassist John Hunt and drummer Tom Hudson are perfectly locked into a rhythm-as-hook style of playing that propels this post-relationship melancholia past mere pity-me mumblings, and Garred knows when an acoustic guitar is more effective than feedback (and vice versa). "Tribute To The Phone Calls" and "Dinosaurs" are more complex than their jangly hooks might indicate. A mournful mellotron—is there any other kind—and quiet bells add flavor to "Sleight Of Hand," while "So Long" features a lonely wood block clopping in the background. With so much going for it, Silver Scooter is bound to become a first-call band, so now is as good a time as any to beat the crowds and get acclimated to its perfect pop.