Theres something new added to the mix, and that is the soft freshness of charm
3 STARS
Digital Release: July 10, 2011
Physical Release: July 11, 2011
Often the mark of critique for want of originality, Scouting For Girls look to be the form of band that arent actually a band, as in, its rather difficult to send their use in todays pop market.
Theyre happy enough to boil out toe-tappable pop songs about love, or a want of it, and make some sort of deep emotional wall around their lyrics; but its silence a wall, meaning theres this impenetrable boundary resisting the reality of their songs. There may be opportunities for something that could be quite emotive, and an even bigger opportunity to hit the listeners empathy, but almost of these opportunities are thwarted by smaller, often quite trivial things that lean to snowball quite easily. Things such as their more irritating musical foibles, Roys slacked-jawed approach to tattle and one or two lyrics throughout an entire song which manage to destroy any thought or depth previously created. These issues seemed to be resolved on This Aint A Love Song, which, thanks to a try from the far more mature Keane, made arguably their best song to date. Alas, follow-up singles Famous and Dont Want To Give You (originally titled Silly Song) did not continue this new-found maturity, and so Scouting For Girls scurried back to their guitars to prove, with a re-release of Everybody Wants To Be On TV, that they do take a spot as a band in todays market.
And lead single from said re-release is this, Love How It Hurts, a strain so unmistakably typical of the set it comes as no storm that its potential to whistle the lyrics of their old hits over it. Roys vocal introduces the song whilst accompanied by a serial of uninventive chords, and the span is where dja vu takes over, and up until said point, the song hasnt done much granted, but it hasnt done much to annoy either. Then an admittedly anticlimactic chorus doesnt so often as hit the listeners as softly stroke their ears and ask politely if it can earn a slight noise, almost like its a monitor of Roys modesty, but it frequently appears as little more than embarrassment.
But still in the aftermath of Know How It Hurts being such a mediocre pop song on the surface, theres something new added to the mix, and that is the soft freshness of charm. And its actually the smaller things on this strain that build it best than most Scouting For Girls songs. For instance - For you Id have run the ends of the Earth, is a clich made potent once more by the use of past tense, creating a hint of futility and bittersweetness, and the summit of emotion is delivered when the words Its the most beautiful pain in the world/I love how it hurts comes around, and the middle eight is undeniably something quite spectacular.
Its a conundrum. At first listen Love How It Hurts seems typically Scouting For Girls, so often so, that it doesnt merit a second listen, as its the like song theyve been releasing since they dbuted, but granted the chance, its a call that can establish its worth with all the goofy intentions to delight the circle are known for - only this time it worked.
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