Despite being titled
Bryan Scary & the Shredding Tears, the debut album by Brooklyn-based singer and keyboardist
Scary was mostly a one-man band release recorded piecemeal over the course of several years. That kind of album can often spiral into self-indulgence, and at times,
Bryan Scary & the Shredding Tears threatened to do just that, though it mostly stayed on the right side of that line. Finally forming a proper band of that name,
Bryan Scary returns with the far superior
Flight of the Knife, an intoxicating blend of pop hooks spanning decades' worth of influences. These 12 songs are built on the same basic set of touchstones as the debut:
Paul McCartney & Wings (the super-catchy chorus of
"Venus Ambassador" makes a passing reference to
"Venus and Mars"),
Electric Light Orchestra (the climax of
"The Fire Tree Bird" echoes
Jeff Lynne's trademark blend of prog rock flash and British Invasion hooks),
Sparks (
Scary's fondness for odd metaphors and prolix verses is akin to
Ron Mael's),
Squeeze (
Scary's singing voice is often a dead-ringer for
Glenn Tilbrook's), and the
Olivia Tremor Control (now's as good a time as any to mention that
Flight of the Knife, bracketed by the two-part title track, purports to be a sci-fi concept album about the greatest of all flying machines), among many others. The difference this time is that whereas
Scary's songs on the debut sometimes sounded like they were overtly indebted to those influences and predecessors, the far more cohesive
Flight of the Knife is more like a patchwork quilt where some of the fabric scraps are immediately identifiable -- check the
Beach Boys-go-
Devo pastiche in the second half of
"The Purple Rocket"! -- but they're arranged in a harmonious and unique whole.
Scary's backing band, plus guests on violin and saxophone, give
Flight of the Knife a more spacious, natural sound than the hermetic one-man-band debut could muster, which both just generally makes the album sound better and increases its sonic similarity to the vintage '70s pop and art-rock albums it so closely resembles. A tremendously fun album,
Flight of the Knife more than delivers on the promise of
Bryan Scary & the Shredding Tears' debut. ~ Stewart Mason
