the Minus Scale - Hotter

I always have this nagging feeling that nothing new is coming out that music now is just a rehashing of the past. We’ve invented all the genres, covered all the chord progressions, and have come up with every possible instrumental combination. This is the pessimist in me. The optimist in me recognizes that regardless of whether or not this is the case, some bands are really good at what they do whether the ground has been covered previously or not.

The Minus Scale are really good at writing indie infused powerpop songs that are easily better than 95% of the shit they play currently on alternative stations. Hotter is their latest record, an 8 song long player-EP that sounds something like the Gin Blossom’s New Miserable Experience mashed together with the electro-dance elements of the Killer’s first album, Hot Fuss.

The issue is, this power pop-electro dance synthesis is not a perfect one, and really the Minus Scale are much better at the prior than the latter. You only need to listen to the first two songs on Hotter to understand what I mean. The first track “Hotter and Hotter and Hotter,” is a dancy little number set to a toe-tapping beat, but the vocals overextend themselves a bit and while the instrumentation is tight, the melodies are ultimately forgettable. However, the very next track, “Oh Disaster,” while not sacrificing any musical technicality, is absurdly catchy from the very first line, “Oh forgive me, if you’ve heard this one just stop me, stop me.” Lavasseur’s vocals are heartfelt, without being overdone; there is an underlying honesty that permeates through this record, and it only fails to come through when they are experimenting stylistically.

While the next song, “Trust” is forgettable in the same way as the first track is, the following track, “No Matter What I Say You’re Going to Do It” is the best song on the album. It starts at a slower pace and strummed guitars allow the vocal narrative to take the foreground. Lavasseur sings about the party scene and the alcohol induced disillusionment that comes with it, “We’re taking shots off the counter, we’re taking shots at each other.” Ultimately though, it’s a song about unrequited love and our willingness to endure, “Even now, in the deepest depths of doubt, there is no other one. You could take me downtown, you could take me out now. Your public is waiting, your hands are shaking, but we’re walking steady in a straight line.” The song gets dancy, builds up to a yelled out chorus, and concludes with a piano outro.

In the next four songs (labeled Side B on the back of the CD insert), the Minus Scale seem content in sticking to their guns with really good indie-rock inspired powerpop songs that are well constructed musically and well written lyrically. “Say What You Mean” makes me want to mimic the lead guitar with Bill & Ted air fingertaps. Side B makes me think of I’m Sorry About Tomorrow Hot Rod Circuit, soaring guitars paired with catchy vocals that avoid clever-clever wordplay and opt instead for real life inspired confessionals.

Ultimately, I think Hotter would be stronger as a 6-song EP, omitting the well intentioned, though ultimately contrived, pseudo-dance stuff. It’s not that track 1 or 3 is bad, all the songs are well-written, and it could be my personal preference, but it just feels like the Minus Scale are just better at writing songs like “Oh Disaster,” and the concluding track, “I Can’t Stop Laughing,” which are both catchy and sincere without overextending themselves into unknown territory.