The new album from Silver Scrolls is likely the riskier record of this week's slate of new releases. It's not exactly experimental or anything, but it's bracing post-punk of the sort not heard much since the heyday of Polvo. And that makes a whole lot of sense since Dave Brylawski, founding member of that band, is in this one. He's joined on this Three Lobed Recordings collection by Brian Quast (The Cherry Valance, Vanilla Trainwreck).
The pieces here have similar names but not similar sounds. Music for Walks has six "walks" with "Walk One (I - Concrete Visions)" succeeding largely thanks to Quast's masterful drumming. Elsewhere, "Walk One (II - Q Scrolls)" is more ruminative, a drum machine (?) keeping this one in line, with Brylawski's smooth vocals making this as much a lullaby as a bit of art rock. Each number on Music for Walks fits like a jigsaw puzzle-piece in place next to the other selections, and yet each seems wildly distinctive and stand-alone.
The two final tracks here make up Walk Two with "Walk Two (I - Nature's Promise)" sounding just a tiny bit like early Nirvana or Tad in spots, even as flourishes here nod in the direction of early Polvo (of course). The record closes with "Walk Two (I - Nature's Promise)", a track that stakes out a serpentine riff only to ride it into the sun. A model of restraint, this composition finds Brylawski and Quast holding back as much as they let erupt, such that a listener could almost mistake moments of this for any number of releases on Dischord in the late Nineties. Still, the shadow of Polvo looms over this, with enough bits here recalling that legendary group to earn this new band a whole lot of followers.
Music For Walks is out on Friday via Three Lobed Recordings.
[Photo: Ashley Worley]