Alternative music isn’t all that alternative anymore.

Everywhere you turn, there’s another indie band for hipsters to obsess over. And English group Scars on 45, formed in 2007, is taking over as the next indie band to pop up on the scene. With a debut album packed with catchy and feel-good songs, it’s good they came along.

The band’s name was inspired by a 2011 Huffington Post interview with singer Emmylou Harris, who recalled being chastised by her father for ‘getting scars on his 45s’ while playing with his record player. The band garnered a large audience when single ‘Beauty’s Running Wild’ played on ‘CSI: NY,’ and other TV dramas like ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ soon featured their songs.

With its debut self-titled album, the band offers hits that have not only lit up the small screen, but shed a bit of encouraging light into listeners’ lives as well. The album is solid, but nothing cutting edge. Its message is its main strength. Lead singer Danny Bemrose crafts his vocals like a real ladies’ man. In all of the band’s songs, he sings sweet and endearing lyrics.

In ‘Hearts on Fire,’ he pledges his devotion to a girl in his sweet British accent. Then, in ‘Beauty’s Running Wild’ he says, ‘I know you think those pretty eyes / are nothing much to see / but beauty’s running wild on your face.’ Commence swoons and tears from female listeners. Not only can these lyrics make a girl’s heart melt, but they can make them downright love struck.

The band also delivers with great musicianship. Vocalist Aimee Driver backs up Bemrose on most tracks. The two are an indie match made in heaven. Bemrose’s melancholy voice drifts through the album, perfectly complemented by Driver’s innocent and sweet style. Their vocals soar over minimal production and instrumentation. The band usually just uses an acoustic guitar with piano and drums barely sneaking in, creating a wonderfully mellow and folky sound in songs like ‘Burn the House Down.’

However,’Scars on 45’doesn’t exactly offer a lot of variety. The band avoids providing songs suiting everyone’s tastes and just sticks to what it’s good at. It’s a smart move, but Scars on 45 did it so much that many songs sound relatively the same, like the soothing ‘Change My Needs’ and ‘Insecurity.’

On nearly all 10 songs on the album, Bemrose and Driver use solemn vocals with minimal backing, a formula that gets old pretty quickly. Their closest shot at diversity is on ‘The Way That We Are,’ which is up-tempo and turns up production a notch with its driving bass.

With its newly attained exposure, the band is the soundtrack to every prime-time love story. Even if Scars on 45’s sound isn’t completely polished just yet, their mellow tunes will make them an ‘aww’-inspiring favorite of many.

ieinyang@syr.edu

Published on April 16, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Ibet: ieinyang@syr.edu