If you’ve at all followed the UK’s alternative scene over the past say, ten years or so, then no doubt you will have at some point stumbled upon the work of Scott Lee Andrews. The wild Welshman originally found minor fame with mid-2000’s post-hardcore rhythm thieves MIDASUNO, before forming Cardiff-based chainsaw loving noise cartel EXIT_INTERNATIONAL, but, more recently, and arguably most notably, his collaboration with GINGER WILDHEART for the third installment of the darkly psychotic project MUTATION. Very prolific and reliable in underground UK music circles, Scott has always been about the intensity, the invigorating sense of finding pleasure in noise and chaos and here we find him working on yet another project to quench his own thirst for the unorthodox. Allow me to introduce to you JAWS OF DEAF and the EP “Delicious Discomfort”…6 tracks hand picked out of around 50 that Scott’s been working on, as he prepares to drop a full length album. Now settle down and get uncomfortable as we check it out…
We open up with “Bait & Switch” which at little over 2-minutes long is the shortest track on offer here and Scott wastes no time delving into his frantic, raucous, thrashy punk roots with an absolute bombardment of messy riffs and demented screeching’s. In his own words; “I really haven’t got a clue what it means”…and that’s partly the fun of it, sometimes noise for noise’ sake is therapeutic. We follow this up with the wonderfully titled “Porno Without The Fucking” and as ridiculous as the statement is, it’s no surprise to learn it came from a YouTube comment that Scott read…intended as a derogatory slur, it’s full of oxymoronic similes, riddled with daft humour, but also a deeper meaning of how the very medication that’s meant to help you can strip you of your identity, resulting in a creative catch-22…another interesting and ultimately fun track.
“Cupid Stunts” is another brilliantly titled self-depreciating effort, with Scott using bleak humour and a wry smile as he sings with a jolly despair about his questionable decisions in life; full of melody and some surprising vocal harmonies it channels the likes of WEEZER in its overall tone and delivery, even down to the climatic key change and its possibly as accessible as you’re likely to find him on any record. Having said that, there’s also “Californian Frown” to take into account which I’ll be honest, initially reminded me of the credits sequence from “Bottom” but that’s something for another time. A bass-driven affair with wacky vocal delivery (Featuring guest vocalist Givvi Flynn), finding itself stuck between being musically designed for Exit_International but lyrically leaning towards Mutation, resulting in a quirky little, edgy indie-rock number. The final two tracks; “An Alone Wolf” is ripped straight out of “Ash Vs. The Evil Dead”; an animalistic take on grunge, before closing track “The World Looks Better From Behind” is an intentionally misogynistic play on words, but also utilises hidden depth with the idea of hindsight and nostalgia. Musically exploratory, dabbling in brass instrumentation for extra character, the drawl of Scott’s vocal harbors elements of Matt Bellamy from MUSE; elongating each note as the track is stretched towards its dying moments.
All in all despite being just six tracks in length, it more or less caters for everyone if you’re familiar with any of Scott’s previous work; it’s got the tumultuous punk-inspired tones of old, it’s got groove-heavy song writing at its core but it also retains a level of darkness brought on by his collaborations with Ginger…it’s not polished, it’s not fucking meant to be; it’s just raw, and rowdy and fun…he meant delicious discomfort quite literally. [7]
We open up with “Bait & Switch” which at little over 2-minutes long is the shortest track on offer here and Scott wastes no time delving into his frantic, raucous, thrashy punk roots with an absolute bombardment of messy riffs and demented screeching’s. In his own words; “I really haven’t got a clue what it means”…and that’s partly the fun of it, sometimes noise for noise’ sake is therapeutic. We follow this up with the wonderfully titled “Porno Without The Fucking” and as ridiculous as the statement is, it’s no surprise to learn it came from a YouTube comment that Scott read…intended as a derogatory slur, it’s full of oxymoronic similes, riddled with daft humour, but also a deeper meaning of how the very medication that’s meant to help you can strip you of your identity, resulting in a creative catch-22…another interesting and ultimately fun track.
“Cupid Stunts” is another brilliantly titled self-depreciating effort, with Scott using bleak humour and a wry smile as he sings with a jolly despair about his questionable decisions in life; full of melody and some surprising vocal harmonies it channels the likes of WEEZER in its overall tone and delivery, even down to the climatic key change and its possibly as accessible as you’re likely to find him on any record. Having said that, there’s also “Californian Frown” to take into account which I’ll be honest, initially reminded me of the credits sequence from “Bottom” but that’s something for another time. A bass-driven affair with wacky vocal delivery (Featuring guest vocalist Givvi Flynn), finding itself stuck between being musically designed for Exit_International but lyrically leaning towards Mutation, resulting in a quirky little, edgy indie-rock number. The final two tracks; “An Alone Wolf” is ripped straight out of “Ash Vs. The Evil Dead”; an animalistic take on grunge, before closing track “The World Looks Better From Behind” is an intentionally misogynistic play on words, but also utilises hidden depth with the idea of hindsight and nostalgia. Musically exploratory, dabbling in brass instrumentation for extra character, the drawl of Scott’s vocal harbors elements of Matt Bellamy from MUSE; elongating each note as the track is stretched towards its dying moments.
All in all despite being just six tracks in length, it more or less caters for everyone if you’re familiar with any of Scott’s previous work; it’s got the tumultuous punk-inspired tones of old, it’s got groove-heavy song writing at its core but it also retains a level of darkness brought on by his collaborations with Ginger…it’s not polished, it’s not fucking meant to be; it’s just raw, and rowdy and fun…he meant delicious discomfort quite literally. [7]
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