Scatter - The Mountain Announces
by Maarten Schiethart
published: 17 / 7 / 2006

Label:
Select Label
Format: CD
intro
Surprisingly coherent second album from versatile freefrom collective Scatter, whose debut album came was released by Pickled Egg
After their slightly esoteric debut for Pickled Egg, Glasgow's Scatter have now moved on to Blank Tapes (dot org for you surfers) for that label's debut with what is a surprisingly coherent and driven album. New to the collective is vocalist Hanna Andrews whose sharp voice sharply contrasts with the sometimes muddy, sometimes sloppy percussion. Quite riotous but harmless - a bit like a BBC Radio 3 programme that claims to go wild! - the great moments on the album come when the fiddling and screeching lead to some kind of texture. 'The Mountain Announces' could have done with a clearer sense of direction though. Actionist yet groovy, and freeform to an attention demanding level, 'The Mountain Announces' does require an experienced ear. It often sounds as if the other members of Scatter can't keep up with the pace of the drummer. 'The Mountain Announces' makes up for being too loose as a concept with a wealth of ideas and integrity. Scatter are not a bunch of tea drinking art students. Well, probably not, but given their band name you should expect dispersed contributions from a great variety of instruments played. The title track is perhaps the prime example of where Scatter could go next; a fine melting of twangy guitar, haunting composition lines, thumping drums and exquisitely blasting brass instruments. The underrecording alas does not show what Scatter might be worth. You should simply spend your money on this album to move Scatter to a higher degree of recording, or dare I say, production.
Track Listing:-
1 O Death2 She Moves Through The Fayre
3 The Mountain Announces
4 Dowie Dens Of Yarrow
5 Blackout Years
6 Delitier The Organ
7 Kid Pharaoh's Last Phonecall
digital downloads
reviews |
Surprising Sing Stupendous Love (2004) |
![]() |
Hypnotic, genre-defying debut from sprawling Glaswegian hybrid, Scatter, who supported Belle and Sebastian on the Scottish leg of their recent tour, and who are the latest signings to the Pickled Egg label |
most viewed articles
current edition
Sarah Cracknell - InterviewDouglas MacIntyre - Interview
Jann Klose - Sugar My
Jimmy Webb - (With support from Ashley Campbell and Thor Jenson), Cadogan Hall, London. 27/5/2022
Jarvis Cocker - Good Pop Bad Pop - An Exhibition of Objects and Keepsakes of Jarvis Cocker
Loop - Interview
Tom Newman - Interview
Rolling Stones - Anfield, Liverpool, 9/6/2022
Simply Red - La Marina, Valencia, Spain, 7/6/2022
Dwina Gibb - Interview
most viewed reviews
current edition
Def Leppard - Diamond Star HalosLucky Ones - Slow Dance, Square Dance, Barn Dance
Various - Heroes & Villains – The Sound Of Los Angeles 1965-1968,
Dave Stewart - Ebony McQueen
Bonnie Raitt - Just Like That...
Emile Sande - Let's Say For Instance
Gabi Garbutt and the Illuminations - Cockerel
Girls At Our Best! - Pleasure
Soup Review - Go and See
Norah Jones - Come Away With Me: 20th Anniversary Edition
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart