Tag: Scouting for Girls

Scouting For Girls – Millionaire

Here’s a shock: it doesn’t have a plinky-plonky piano.

Tom: Oh my word, they’re still bloody going.

Tim: You’re surprised? Eight years isn’t a particularly long time for a band like this.

Tom: I just kind of assumed they’d slowly fallen into oblivion. Only they’ve not: they’ve got a greatest hits album, which is a bold move for a band that’s only had three actual albums. And, of course, the greatest album has an optimistically-placed new track on it.

But here’s a shock: it doesn’t have a plinky-plonky piano. Instead… it’s got a ukulele.

Tom: At least my normal criticism — that all their tracks sound the same — doesn’t apply here. It’s proper Radio 2 playlist material, this, though; if it got any more middle-of-the-road it’d hit the central reservation.

Tim: Nicely put; sometimes, though, middle of the road is alright, and I quite like this, in a pleasant and entirely inoffensive manner.

Tom: With one exception, of course: what is with the sudden bizarre electronic pitch-shift before the final chorus? It’s the one bit of the song that stands out to me, and I actually rather like it: I wonder what they could do when paired up with a producer that was less… well, generic?

Tim: Probably, and I sort of hate myself for saying this, come out with something that’s ‘relevant’ and likely to be Radio 1 playlisted. Still, this’ll do.

Scouting for Girls – Summertime in the City

“Perhaps ‘terrible’ is too strong a word.”

Tom: Last time we covered a Scouting for Girls track, I gave this formula that fits every one of their tracks, and suggested they never break that mould:

Earnest vocals over inoffensive piano, guitar and drums; vocal harmonies in the background from half way through the song; quiet piano bridge ramping up to undeservedly triumphant final chorus.

Well, they’ve broken that mould.

Tom: And it’s terrible.

Tim: What? No it isn’t. It’s good, no?

Tom: Well, perhaps ‘terrible’ is too strong a word. It’s pop music, after all. It’s no INJU5TICE. But – backing ripped from an MIA track, chorus suggesting the Lovin’ Spoonful original “Summer in the City” but never quite getting there, lyrics that could have been written by an eight-year-old. It’s inoffensive pop and it probably won’t do badly, but it ain’t going to be a classic, that’s for sure.

Tim: Well, if you pull it apart like that then yes, you make it sound bad, and there’s not a whole lot I can disagree with (especially with regard to the lyrics). But you don’t mention it all coming together and fitting well enough to make a tune that I’m still humming two hours later.

Tom: Really? I can barely remember it at all. I’ve just got a nagging feeling of irritation.

Tim: Fair enough, and you’re right, it’s not a classic. But terrible? Absolutely not.

Scouting for Girls – Don’t Want To Leave You

Will it sound the same as every other one?

Tom: When Scouting for Girls release a new single, there’s always the question: will it sound the same as every other Scouting for Girls single? The answer here is: yes. Yes it does. Again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13edQk7g5_o

Tom: Earnest vocals over inoffensive piano, guitar and drums; vocal harmonies in the background from half way through the song; quiet piano bridge ramping up to undeservedly triumphant final chorus. Probably the same chords as their previous tracks, although I’m not going to risk falling asleep by checking.

Tim: I’ll be honest: I quite like Scouting for Girls. The music’s not particularly imaginative, but it’s good enough. True, they could have stopped after their first album and kept releasing the same singles over and over again on a three year cycle and nobody would really notice, but it’s fairly harmless.

Tom: The best I can say about this is that it’s generic and mercifully short. It’ll be reasonably popular, then sink without trace, and in a few months’ time there’ll be another one. Kind of like… huh. I’ve come up short on analogies there. Any ideas?

Tim: Well, kind of like, um, She’s So Lovely, Elvis Ain’t Dead, Heartbeat, I Wish I Was James Bond, This Ain’t A Love Song and any others I may have missed. The only thing that leaps to mind about this is the irony that it starts off being described as ‘a song you can sing along to’, and then becomes a song that isn’t really memorable in the slightest.