In Cold Blood is the follow up to Scarlet Soho’s ‘Warpaint’ album (2009). It is produced by James Yuill, Graham Laybourne (Boytronic/Falco), Zanzibar Production and the band themselves. Scarlet Soho are James Knights and Scarlet. This album is by far their strongest yet.
Opening with a lone piano and the plaintive line “you shot me down in cold blood” this album invites the listener to lean in, to be faced with a three and a half minute synthesizer onslaught, swiftly crashing into the glistening electro of When The Lights Go Out followed by stomping live favourite What You Need.In Cold Blood manages to walk the tightrope between light and shade within the space of a single song as well the album as a whole. Take the upbeat doo-wop “uh-huh… uh-huh…” backing vocals in Gigolo, that transform into the sneering threat “you’d better keep your mouth shut and watch you don’t drown”. Similarly the bleepy shuffle of Two Steps From Heartache keeps you on the dance-floor despite James singing of the inevitability of life crashing down around you.A stripped back departure from what you might expect from Scarlet Soho comes in the form of This Town Is Mine. It features a solitary trumpet that is part cavalry “Last Post” and part sleazy jazz club. The track is an intoxicating mix of melotron, clicks and arpeggiators which culminate in the finger-pointing death-row statement “don’t you ever forget – this town is mine”. Make The Final twists the mood again striding affirmatively towards ice-cold vocoded disco track 2015. Final track Solo KO is a theatrical mess of swirling synths and grinding bass that manages to be both grandiose and heartfelt. “Take it til your eyes roll, take it til your heart explodes… if it’s what you were born for.”
In Cold Blood is an impressive achievement for a band releasing their third studio album. It is a tight mixture of synthetic and live instruments pulled into formation by Knights’ bold vocal and Scarlet’s coherent wording. Lyrically, it is often a dark affair with themes of mortality and fatalism running throughout. Musically, it couples electro pop sensibilities with depth and intelligence.
Cadiz Music will release the album worldwide on 13.02.15. Preorder available from today at http://scarletsohoshop.bigcartel.com/
Scarlet Soho ‘In Cold Blood’ live dates
20.02.2015 – Railway – Winchester (UK)
26.02.2015 – The Islington – London (UK)
