Dr Scardo are a four piece who bask in an early to mid-90’s ambience.
Sigh. Self-proclaimed alt-rock for adults with an edgy undertone,
their style is best demonstrated in the opening track ‘Leave
us alone’, almost an anthem for the forgotten generation who
are all still on the dole, perhaps a statement that nothing really
has changed in the past thirty years, including music (well, theirs
hasn’t). This concept would be far cleverer than it actually
is though (I think). Because the songs on ‘Dark Dog days’
merged into one, the strongest influences apparently Margaret Thatcher’s
Britain and the downtrodden working class, despite Dr Scardo sounding
hopelessly middle class themselves. Don’t ask me how, they just
do. And they probably are. Regardless, the brainchild of experienced
Brighton-based producer, Simon Scardanelli, the eighties are the era
he developed in and it shows here.
Guitar driven political cabaret is an apt description of tracks like
‘A Dark Horse Damned’, whereas a more poppy theme is seen
on songs like ‘Wild flowers’, political in the sense that
Bono and Chris Martin are political, in a belting and rather hypocritical
way, making otherwise listenable really quite meaningless for the
poor lyrical content. There are attempts at classic songwriting there,
from Talking Heads, perhaps even to U2, but Dr Scardo’s forced
storytelling over David Bowie- inspired riffs meant that I couldn’t
wait for this album to come to an end. Yes, Simon is certainly better
off making other people sound good instead of trying to do it himself.
