THE SCOTLAND YARD GOSPEL CHOIR...And the Horse You Rode In On
(Bloodshot)
**** (out of 5)
All right, granted: if you’re going to enjoy the music of The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, you need to have a taste for highly articulate songwriters wallowing shamelessly in their own romantic misery. There’s a song on this album called “Something’s Happening” whose chorus goes, “Oh my God, my life is so fucked up! / Oh my God, my life is so fucked up!” and another song called “Libertyville or Somewhere” whose chorus is “God, I’m not doing well! / Oh my God, I’m not doing well!” The first words out of lead singer Elia Einhorn’s mouth are “I hope that you catch syphilis and die alone!”
But if you’re going to write incredibly mopey, Morrissey-esque breakup songs, I’m happy to excuse you if they’re also as smart and funny and full of vivid details as these. Listen to Elia pour his heart out to his ex-girlfriend on “I Pretend She’s You” (while aping the melody to Pulp’s “Babies”): he starts out venomously, singing, “Oh Lee / I know you’ve got a boyfriend / Plays in a band even you’ve never heard of,” but it’s not long before he confesses that when he’s in bed with his new girl, “I usually pretend she’s you / ’cause I don’t know what else to do.”
The band’s fatalistic outlook on life was confirmed in the worst possible way last month when all six members were injured in a van accident; happily, they all survived, and hopefully they will celebrate having cheated death by recording many more songs about how miserable it is to be alive.
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