Cassette Review // Dave Scanlon "Taste Like Labor" (Whatever's Clever)

https://davescanlon.bandcamp.com/album/taste-like-labor

When I first listen to "Taste Like Labor" I think about it being somewhat emo and that might also just be because I think of this as sounding like The Lyndsay Diaries.   There is that way where it just keeps like a band such as The Get Up Kids doing a stripped down set, but the more I really listen to this cassette the more I see that just isn't the case.   This might feel like that on the surface but there are layers to this music.

At times, this can be considered folk just because of the way the guitar sounds.  There's melody and that makes me think this could be from the "Juno" soundtrack, for example.  But other songs just sort of drift out in this rather trippy way and that makes it feel like something else entirely.  Would it be wrong to call this experimental folk?  Is there such a thing?  Because you can feel that Frampton influence in here as well.

On the flip side of this we also start with a song which seems to generate one note for every word and it is drawn out slowly.   This just goes to demonstrate how the overall feeling of this cassette can be in terms of the vocals/lyrics because it's not typical in that respect either.   This comes out in a song such as "Collapse" as well, where you can just hear these numbers and it's singing but it's not the way I've heard singing done before.

What I really appreciate about this sound is that it tries to lure you in with this sense of comfort, this sense of you might have heard this before and it's non-threatening.  You expect to hear vocals with a guitar and it should just be as simple as that, but it's not.  Electronics come out and this takes on a sound like noise at times.  This sound feels like the melodies are a gateway sound to something more experimental but we've all got to get there sometime so why not let this be your guide.