CD  COMPACT DISC  CD  COMPACT DISC

Scott lathers his songs in tape hiss and disembodied noise, but the songs themselves are straight-forward and hooky guitar jams. Cuomo’s influence on Scott is apparent in the number of songs named women on Melbourne. “Evie” is one of the album’s prettiest songs, with Scott’s murmuring, wandering vocal anchored by a sturdy acoustic strum and lifted by a jangly electric lead. Also lovely is “Sandy”-- which refers to the Sandy Hook shootings-- which offsets the disturbing lyrics (“Little kids/ Sitting all around/ Wishing they were sound asleep again”) with a light shuffle and sighing backing vocals. “Sandy” is the closest that Scott gets to full-on lysergic creepiness on Melbourne; he’s most at home with sprawling, slow-burn rockers that climax with stunning six-string pyrotechnics. “That Awful Sound” stomps with surprising swagger after the tweeness of Melbourne’s opening tracks, with Scott’s smoldering guitar finally bubbling over for a searing mid-song solo. The Pixies-like “Together Forever” is a mini epic-- at 3:42, it’s the longest song on this fleet 12-track and 29-minute record-- that builds to a chorus of guitar feedback in the final minute.- Steven Hyden of Pitchfork 7.7/10