Scarling.

Scarling.

So Long, Scarecrow

[5/5] With So Long, Scarecrow, Scarling. singer Jessicka Fodera has officially made the break with the suburban goth scene that still clutches Marilyn Manson and Jack Off Jill discs to their bosoms when they go to sleep at night. Scarling’s 2004 debut EP, Sweet Heart Dealer, was a necessary bridge that reconciled Fodera’s patented she-beast psychosis with the atmospheric vistas guitarist Christian Hejnal was conjuring. This time, the duo have steered Scarling. toward much more melodic territory, pulling the plug on Jessicka’s shrieking while slowly raising the impedance on Hejnal’s pedal board. The resultant collection of songs involves excursions into cough-syrup abuse (“Hello London”), foreboding menace (“Cahuenga [Northbound On]”), toothy pop (“Like A Killer”), edgy psychedelia (“Caribou And Cake”) and many points in between. Old-school listeners missing the halcyon days of Lush or Smashing Pumpkins and new-schoolers thinking Thrice just might have something goin’ on with their new album have found new reasons to live in the present. (SYMPATHY FOR THE RECORD INDUSTRY) Jason Pettigrew

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