Scanners - Love is Symmetry

  by Dave Goodwin

published: 9 / 6 / 2013

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After sharing the stage with might such as Florence and the Machine, Laura Marling, Air, the Horrors and Devo, you would have thought everyone would have heard of Scanners. I have to admit, however, that this lot until now had given me the slip. 'Love is Symmetry' is the third album of London-based five piece Scanners, which consists of Sarah (vocals), Matt (vocals, guitar), Amina (guitar/keyboards), Harry (drums) and Ben (bass). And a good third it is too. As I loaded the disc into the drawer the genre came up as 'punk'. That sounds about right I thought as I wandered through the opening title track with its handclap and fuzzy guitar, twinkering background noise and dangerously whispered vocals from Sarah, which reminded me both of Siouxsie and Chrissie Hynde. On further listen, however, it, however, has some fine pop moments too. Having released their previous two albums before with Dim Mac Records, the same company that worked with the wonderful Bloc Party, they have been helped in the right direction from the off, having tracks featured on TV shows like 'Shameless' and 'One Tree Hill'. There are treats galore on this album. 'Mexico' has a definite Arcade Fire feel, as does 'State of Wonder'. The punk element is on show in the guise of 'When They Put Me Back Together' and the repetitive vocal angst of the Bangles-ish 'I Couldn't Help Myself'. Filled with some blissfully contagious melodic foot-tapping and dark, lurking brain tampering, there is also a tinge of, dare I say, the Smiths, on 'Charmed Life', which is backed up by some superb echoing strings. To stick out my neck still further, I would like to suggest that 'My Streets Are Always in the Shade' has some early New Order influences. It could just be the song of the year so far! Keep your eyes peeled for this band and get lucky. If this album is anything to go by, you won't be disappointed.

Track Listing:-

1 Love Is Symmetry
2 Control
3 Mexico
4 Charmed Life
5 My Streets Are Always in the Shade
6 State of Wonder
7 When They Put Me Back Together They Forgot to Turn Me On
8 A Smile on Both Your Faces
9 I Couldn't Help Myself
10 Side Effects
11 Today Is the Tomorrow That They Promised Yesterday
12 One Problem Always Changes to Another

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/scannersofficial/
https://twitter.com/wearescanners
http://www.last.fm/music/Scanners

Label Links:-

http://www.tigertrap.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/tigertraprecords
http://www.last.fm/label/Tigertrap
https://twitter.com/tomtigertrap
https://plus.google.com/u/0/108874144461470986975/posts
https://www.instagram.com/tigertraprecords/

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