Scarling.
Issue #26
So Long Scarecrow (Sympathy for the Record Industry)
By Callye Morrissey
Published: December 1st, 2005 | 4:01pm
Goth isn’t dead. It’s just evolved into a sweeter version with Scarling’s variety of distorted but, dare I say, gorgeous version of the once-dreary genre. On the band’s full-length debut, So Long, Scarecrow, frontwoman Jessicka’s syrupy yet cautious vocals are quite different than her former angry, self-mutilating persona in the late ’90s Marilyn Manson-esque group Jack off Jill.
For a band that has never embarked on a full-scale national tour in its almost five-year existence, Scarling. is doing quite fine for itself. The Cure’s Robert Smith handpicked the band for his Curiosa Festival in 2004 (along with Interpol and Muse), granting them the opportunity to play West Coast shows on the support stage. The Mark Ryden enthusiasts (the band has used his work for previous releases) create songs that are emotional and sexy, yet sometimes deprecating and sad.
So Long, Scarecrow is Scarling.’s first release without Chris Vrenna (of NIN) producing. A longtime friend of the band (he and Jessicka met while Jack off Jill was based in Florida), Vrenna’s signature touch is absent here. While Scarling still fares well in new territory, Vrenna’s industrial glaze is missed.
The gems of the album, such as “Teenage Party Letdown” and “Bummer,” would make it a detrimental shame to let So Long, Scarecrow be forgotten by not touring in its support. Hopefully, Scarling. will stop hiding in L.A. and make more than an occasional stop to other parts of the world to prove that they are indeed music makers.
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