Scott Reynolds & The Steaming Beast

Adventure Boy

[4/5]

With a punk-rock pedigree as thick as Scott Reynolds’ (ALL, Goodbye Harry), you’d have to champion Adventure Boy as a triumph on principle alone, pre-listen. Lucky for us, the lineage also includes the Steaming Beast, featuring Flaming Lips multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd and producer extraordinaire David Fridmann (Phantom Planet, Thursday) along with members of the Pavers and Drag The River. Reynolds’ endearment has always been his ability to make quirky songs sound somehow epically tragic by way of his raspy tone. The addictive opening track, “Jesus, Satan, Gene Beeman, His Car, & Pizza Hut,” bows with a bouncy, happy disposition and highlights Reynolds’ range lyrically as well as vocally. The toned-down title track provides welcome respite with a bossa nova traipse and spooky piano. (SUBURBAN HOME) Ryan Prado