Silver Scooter: The Blue Law

Some bands seem to come out of nowhere as instant superstars, while others linger for years without making the leap beyond their cult confines. For the past several years, Austin's Silver Scooter eked out a fine existence in the latter category, but the band offers such a beguiling brand of pop music that its status as a well-kept secret simply boggles the mind. A guitar act anchored to the same rhythmic base that propelled New Order—in this case, Tom Hudson's machinelike beats, John Hunt's strummed Rickenbacker bass, and new member Shawn Camp on keyboards—Silver Scooter sticks to that band's disarmingly simple formula of somber minor-key anthems buoyed by wonderful little hooks and charmingly lackadaisical vocals. (A recent EP even featured a note-perfect cover of New Order's "Run.") In Silver Scooter's case, singer Scott Garred's lazy drawl keeps the songs down-to-earth, though the band has otherwise pared down its arrangements and polished its sound to a brilliant sheen. "Goodbye," "Albert Hall," and "The Long Way" all carry their melodies on Hunt's bass, while the mellow "Blue Law" tempers its mood with Garred's gee-whiz lyrics about beer. The up-tempo "Black Stars" would fit perfectly on New Order's Technique, though the power ballad (!) "Dirty Little Bar" seems more in line with Peter Hook's New Order-lite side project Monaco. The latter half of The Blue Law is a bit more subtle, with "Remembering" (one of the few tracks with an actual drum machine) and "On The Mark" subtly exhibiting a taste for bar-band country. All throughout, Garred's vocals keep the music from becoming too Britpop precious, though the band probably chose the dramatic synth cheese decorating "Crash" for just that reason. But where Silver Scooter's Orleans Parish seemed satisfied with the modest rules of indie-rock, The Blue Law finds the band busting out a bit. Its accessible style shift might just be the key to its success, as the effortless pop pull of the disc's 10 songs ultimately proves irresistible.