Scrawl: Nature Film

Scrawl has been performing since 1986, weathering the obnoxious "foxcore" tag, the departure of its original drummer, and the disappearance of its label (Rough Trade), all the while wonderfully refining its rough harmonies. For years, fans had to troll countless record stores, new and used, to try to find any of the band's releases, past or present. It came as a big relief, then, when a major label picked up Scrawl so the group could get the distribution it richly deserved. Nature Film is a sort of retrospective containing six new songs, six new recordings of previously released but hard-to-find songs, and one cover ("Public Image" by Public Image Limited). Among the re-recordings are "11:59 It's January," from the subscription-only Working Holiday singles series, and "Charles," a female rocker's take on the Kiss standard "Beth" (from the out-of-print Smallmouth album). The new material is just as strong as the old. It's lyrically subtle, personal without being too revealing or self-centered, and packed with hooks. It helps that Scrawl has a great sense of restraint: The band can rock out with the best of them (the PiL cover), but it packs no less of a visceral punch when it's toned down ("Don't We Always Get There"). Here's hoping Nature Film is enough of a success to inspire a mass re-release of the Scrawl back-catalog.