List | S | Scapa Flow | 'Chased By Sunset' CD 1991

'Running Out Of Time'

Track:	Name:	Time:
1.	Drugstore	4:30
2.	India Rubber	6:07
3.	Bad Mood Blues	4:48
4.	Dancing King	5:50
5.	Kangaroo	7:38
6.	Hammerguy	2:36
7.	In Between	12:40
8.	The Face Of Paradise	5:47
9.	Kangaroo Remix	7:12
	Total	57:42

Comments:

Swedish synth band Scapa Flow have been described as a rock band with synths, which is not entirely inaccurate, but not exactly very precise either. I first discovered them through the compilation I Sometimes Wish I Was Famous, where parts of this band made an excellent version of Depeche Mode's To Have And To Hold, using the band name No Hotel.

The first track of this album, 'Drugstore', is a quite rocky tune about a cheap hooker with some deadly disease (can you say "AIDS"?). It's upbeat, noisy and full of lovely disted synths. The growling voice is singing/shouting, which fits the tune very well. The second track however, is a lot slower, darker and quite depressing (in a good way). The synth chords are excellent, and the simple super-synthetic bassline over the slow heavy beat is great. The lyrics are about the concept "truth", and the lack thereof, hence take your 'India rubber' and erase it. A great track. Really really good. Very. I like it a lot. Could you ever guess?

Track three starts off with some acoustic guitar chords, before the dist synths and drum machine kick in. It's a bit faster than the previous track, but not by much. It's a bit similar in style, although slightly less melodic and a bit rougher in sound textures. I wouldn't call it exceptionally bluesy, but it certainly is about bad moods. Dark hard-synthpop? Alterna-synth? Slow EBM? Whatever. Another great track.

Track four shows the lighter side of the band, and is quite humorous. It's an upbeat mock-EBM-ish track with terrible shouted vocals about dancing til you drop, with some occasional manic laughter. The suddenly, the music stops dead and all you hear are some soft strings and two guys going "ZummmMMMMMM", rather melodic but slightly out of tune. Then a scream, and it's back on track with the aggro style again. Quite amusing. The tune alternates between these two styles, taking both to more extreme versions further into the track. At one point the upbeat part is played about twice as fast in between dead silent parts (with someone saying in Swedish "can you turn that thing off?" in the background). The ultra-fast bits sound a bit like speed metal on synths. The track ends with more "ZummMMMMmm"-ing, then finally some random keyboard splashes and laughter.

The next track is more of a real song. It's a slow, funky and groovy, with both aggro style shouted vocals in the background and spoken/sung vocals in front. The lyrics are a bit Swedish-sounding, about a certain brand of beer. The spoken vocals get a bit annoying after a while, due to their off-key whining. The wah-wah bassline sound almost like a real bass guitar, which in fact it might even be (I really don't know). A rather good electric guitar solo fades in after a shout of "Cheers!", and continues in the background throughout the rest of the track, until it all finally fades. It quite a good song, but a bit too slow and the spoken vocals are a bit sleazy.

Track six is again more upbeat, a bit rockish, with shouted disted vocals I can't quite make out. There's a "Game Over" vocal sample played all through the track, which gets a bit repetative. The drum machine and synth bassline, along with the disted vocals, make it quite a good track though, even it it somehow doesn't quite feel like a real song. Maybe half a song.

The next track bored me quite a bit the first few times I heard it, but grew on me with time. It's quite slow and long, and a bit similar in style to track two. Less melodic, though, but really quite varied, with breaks, silent parts, faster uptempo sections etc. In parts it reminds me a bit of some slow Sisters Of Mercy track, or perhaps Sisterhood. It appears to end several times, but only pauses briefly, to continue again in a perhaps different style.

Following that is a stronger track. Still quite slow, but more powerful and with a chord progression that I really love, along with a lovely flanged synth bassline. It's more coherent than the previous track, and harsher in general. It took me a while to realise it, but it's clearly one of the best tracks of the album. Maybe a little bit Sisterhood sounding in the chords, somewhat reminiscent of 'Giving Ground' or 'Rain From Heaven'.

Ending the album is a remix of 'Kangaroo', and hearing this alternate version I can't help thinking this must be the original version and the other one the "slow funk mix" or something. This version is more EBM-ish, upbeat and a great sense of "go". The annoying spoken vocals are completely removed, and the shouted are higher in volume. The rhythm is stompier, the bassline pounding. The excellent chords are more apparent (like a slower version of the Trans-Europe Express chords?). The only real annoyance (apart from some obviously Swedish misunderstanding about the English language and some Swedish accent) is that the great "Cheers!" crash is reduced to a mere whine, making it sort of an anti-climax. However, after that the track picks up again, transformed into an acoustic guitar version. The vocals are easier to make out here, which isn't necessarily a good thing, but it's a nice twist to end the album.

In all, it's a rather diverse "alternative synth" album, with some different styles. Many of the songs are really great, and though there are only 6.5 "real" songs on it, it doesn't leave you feeling cheated. I suppose it can be said that some of the songs are so strong, they're a lot better than the performance. That doesn't mean the performance is bad, but the production is a bit rough (small label, debut album etc.) and the Swedish accent is a bit strong at times. The lo-fi vocal samples that pop up here and there are possibly a bit repetative, but not completely off the subject. Still, it's definitely one of my all-time favourite albums, and it's a bit amusing to think I was quite let down by it the first time I heard it, when only the last track got through to me. It does grow with time though, and since I've had it for years it's grown quite a lot on me. I love it.

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