Sometimes, as I do this job, I wonder whether it’s worth using
\nall the labels that people give music. Especially in the last ten
\nyears or so, groups have been integrating so many different styles
\ninto their music that it’s almost impossible to neatly categorize
\nanyone anymore. Even Metallica has performed with a symphony
\norchestra… but we’ll have more to say about that tomorrow.<\/p>\n
I’m further reminded of the futility of labels with the debut
\nrelease from the scoldees,
\nMy Pathetic Life<\/i>. They’re made out to be a pseudo-folk band,
\nbut there’s more than enough pop sensibility behind these musicians
\nto suggest they could someday make a run for the charts. Anyway, so
\nlong as the music is this good, who really cares what you call
\nit?<\/p>\n
The band – vocalist Nancy Sirianni, vocalist\/guitarist Jack
\nHoffmann, vocalist\/guitarist\/percussionist John Collis and bassist
\nTed Rydzewski – deftly walks the line between folk’s sensibility
\nand pop’s charm, but they do this so smoothly that it’s hard to
\ntell exactly when the switches happen.<\/p>\n
The one song that clinches things for me on
\nMy Pathetic Life<\/i> is “All I Want,” a song that could easily
\nhave come from the pen of one of the pop world’s hitmakers.
\nSirianni makes her case in the song well, and by the end, you’re
\nthinking that our heroine really isn’t asking for too much, even
\nthough much of what she wants is out of our grasps.<\/p>\n
Likewise, the tracks “My Pathetic Life,” “Inside” and “My Bright
\nLife” all sound like they tell the tale of someone who discovers
\nthe value of their life through the naked, honest expression of
\ntheir emotions. Now, I’m pretty sure that these three songs are not
\nmeant to be connected, but the story they tell – and the way they
\nflow together effortlessly – makes it impossible for me to separate
\nthem in my head… and in this case, I mean that as a high
\ncompliment.<\/p>\n
\nMy Pathetic Life<\/i> contains many songs that captivate and move
\nthe listener in this way. “Kid Stuff” yearns for the return to the
\nsimpleness of childhood, but not for the reasons that have been
\nexpressed in so many other songs. In a similar vein, “Masks” shows
\nus how we can so deceive others – as well as ourselves – that when
\nwe look in the mirror it’s not our true selves that we see.
\nKa-pow.<\/p>\n
While it took me some time to get into tracks like “Silly Girl”
\nand “One Stone,” the scoldees quickly calmed any doubts I had about<\/p>\n
My Pathetic Life<\/i> and convinced me that these tracks too were
\nworthy of any listener’s time and attention.<\/p>\n
\nMy Pathetic Life<\/i> is not a disc you’ll presently find in your
\nlocal Wal-Mart… but if the scoldees are given the right breaks
\n(and I sincerely hope they are given a chance by someone in the
\nindustry), that should quickly change. Remember the name: the
\nscoldees. That way, you’ll be able to say someday that you were
\nlistening to them back when they were still an indie band.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6232],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-36440","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-scoldees","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36440"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36440"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}