Review Summary: A solid if subdued third effort from underachieving Scottish alternative rock trio.
The possibility of a commercial breakthrough has proved irritably elusive for Ayrshire based alternative rock trio (now quintet) Sucioperro following their formation over a decade ago. Currently a band that could be considered seasoned veterans of the Scottish underground music scene, they have watched on as friends and compatriots The Xcerts, Twin Atlantic and Biffy Clyro have shot to increasing levels of British renown and European success. It is a shame really, that frontman JP Reid’s most commercially accepted moment in fact sprouts from his side project Marmaduke Duke, alongside Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro, from which one of the tracks (
‘Rubber Lover’, for those in the loop) achieved, albeit briefly, #12 position on the UK Singles Chart.
The release of the band’s third LP
The Heart String & How to Pull It, in hindsight, should have been the opportunity to push the band into higher popularity ground. Considerably less in your face, balls-out aggressive and technical than 2009’s excellent
Pain Agency, the record ventures into thoroughly poppier territory, musically and lyrically. That said, the album does not suffer too greatly for doing so.
The tempo of the record never reaches the heights attained on previous records and feels safe, precise, controlled and, consequently, unspectacular. The lack of extra zest however allows frontman Reid’s introspective lyricism to come to the forefront. As a writer, the sheer volume of Reid’s output borders on prolific and as a lyricist, the record arguably stands as his highpoint to date. Thematically,
The Heart String & How to Pull It centres around – you guessed it! – the difficulties and dissolution of relationships and the eventual readiness to start fresh. Take strong opener ‘
Running From All That Doesn’t Tempt You’ for example, beginning with a rhetorical question in ‘so where can I start/as I reach one more end?’ This negative perspective is later quashed in the chorus ‘this dark moment will pass/and love will return.’ Over the course of the album, the examination of what went wrong is explored in the brilliant ‘
Reflexes of the Dead’, a slow-building single featuring a duet of male and female vocals offering different perspectives into the problems of the relationship. ‘I sensed you lost a little something along the way’, offers Reid tentatively. The song in question offers one of the rare solos found on the record, but in concurrence with its overall sound, it is slow and sombre. A moment of almost cathartic release is felt at the climactic moment of acoustic closer, ‘
Hands’ – in which, hell, even a xylophone crops up – as Reid utters over strong strumming ‘my hands and my blood and my bones and my heart on my sleeve/waiting for someone to save me/I am drowning/it’s not that I can’t take care of myself/I’m just needing for someone to save me.’
Admittedly,
The Heart String & How to Pull It does have a couple of minor faults. Tracks like ‘
Is That Why You Pull Me In?’ may not be to everyone’s taste due to the potentially irritating French refrain: a translation of the title. The bass and percussion driven ‘
Delicious’, while a decent song, doesn’t really progress anywhere in its three and a half minute running time. ‘
Invisible Monsters’ is just downright dull. Other songs such as ‘
Out & Over’ are, as aforementioned, just that little bit too safe.
And that’s just what this record is- a solid if subdued affair merely lacking in that bit of ‘oomph’ from an underachieving, yet undoubtedly talented, Scottish rock outfit. The
Heart String & How to Pull It could have been their passport to mainstream acknowledgement and appreciation, a journey that many underground bands crave and in which few sadly are able to undertake.
Recommended tracks:
‘
Running From All That Doesn’t Tempt You’
‘
Reflexes of the Dead’
‘
Hands’
