Scatter - The Mountain Announces

  by Maarten Schiethart

published: 17 / 7 / 2006

---

Review

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 Death
2 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