First impressions of The Scholars back at last year’s Punt were of a sharper version of The Half Rabbits and from the sound of this short but neatly formed EP it’s a comparison that still holds up, though by the direction this band are moving in it probably won’t for long. Where the paranoid baritone voice in The Half Rabbits projects from the thick of a scuzzy-sounding band with a sense of urgency, the paranoid baritone voice of The Scholars stands front and centre above a much more smooth, relaxed, slick backing, with slow disco drums and buzzing synths ringing loud bells that sound very like a mixture of The Killers and Interpol. There is a lot going on here, rich backings, thick textures and very high production values throughout, and it feels similar to the way a slow-moving river carries more sediment, making it at the same time more powerful but less manoeuvrable.
Lyrically the three songs share the same underdog point of view: the chorus of ‘Escape Plan’ chants “destroy the enemy, they lie to you and me” and speaks of “one machine that’s forever consuming”, an attitude which works quite effectively as a poetic device but will come across as a little reductive and childish if shot through with too much sincerity. ‘New York Smile’ and opener ‘Mind Games’ revert to the personal and lament communication breakdown in and after relationships (presumably), and there’s a bit of a mismatch between the angular-but-slick minor-key aggression in the music, the dry vocal delivery and the plaintive “why don’t you rely on me?” in the lyrics, with hints of repressed impotent rage mixed in for good measure.
Whether this is a short EP or a long single probably depends on whether or not you’re listening to the version with the two ‘bonus tracks’, both more electronic than the tracks in the main body of the record. ‘Birth’ is a short vocal refrain around which a Coldplay-esque pseuphoric build-and-drop has been built, which is a nice piece of atmosphere if a bit insubstantial, while the Parisian Cowboy remix of the band’s first big song ‘Turbulence’ seems to be a strike at a proper dancefloor pop single. It’s a good track if a little dated to these ears, with New Order synth vocals and Enigma raindrop glissandi, which add a potentially unintended irony to the “seen it all before” line.
While it’s obviously not the case with everyone, a local band’s first few EPs are generally most interesting as snapshots of potential, giving a hint at where the band could go. On that basis, this EP is a strong one indeed: where most bands start out sounding loose and tightening up their technique and recording quality, there isn’t much further in that direction that The Scholars can go. If anything, I’d encourage them to loosen up and let a couple of human errors creep in, to rein in the saturation and stadium production values. More realistically, though, I’d encourage them to ignore advice from reviewers because they clearly know exactly what they’re doing.