SCAR – Call To Arms EP

The past year or so has seen lots of excellent collaborative groups form between individually successful artists, notably the likes of Ivy Lab, Ruffhouse and Chroma. The latest, and arguably most exciting is the formation of SCAR, the combination of Script and Survival. A slew of forthcoming releases, followed up by this EP has laid the foundations for a successful year – and a host more of tunes to come.

‘Burnside’ sets the tone with a subdued, atmospheric intro. Layered pads menacingly set the tone, whilst small drum shuffles and slips of percussion add movement to keep it riding along smoothly. A fine balance is struck between maintaining the atmospheric air initially set in the track, and managing to add an aggression and energy to it, as epitomised by the stabs and synths that punctuate the main layers of the tune.

‘Call to Arms’ is the title track, and probably the stand out track as well. Snappy drums instantly set the pace, before giving way to echoing hits and hints of a bassline, before releasing in a surge of stomping kicks, backed by what can only be a described as a war horn. Distorted and damaging, and a perfect compliment to the relentless drum work, it really does feel like a piece of battle music for the modern era.

‘Time Constant’feels like a giant amalgamation of sounds. Vocal snippets, wickedly manipulated synths and pads and a steadily rolling bassline come together harmoniously. The sheer amount of change within the track is impressive, no 4 bars ever being the same. And yet, it works superbly well, never losing the feeling that it is still the same track – surely a feat in itself. A perfect example of this can be found in the second drop, a different bassline to the first gives it a far more old school feel – demonstrating the duos ingenuity and imagination.

‘Dodgy Dalek’ rounds off the EP nicely. As with the other tunes, glitchy noises lay the foundations for the track before once more being embraced by a simple and effective bassline. Again with the others the little samples and noises provide the real interest in the track, backing up a solid tune and giving it an edge against others of a similar style.

Maintaining Dispatches run of recent solid releases, ‘Call to Arms EP’ is demonstrative of the abilities of the two artists, although it does leave you somewhat hoping the best is yet to come.