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Reviews - Divisions Of Decency

Rock Sound
Now the so-called electro-clash craze is over Scarlet Soho have missed the boat somewhat with their debut album. One Listen to 'Divisions Of Decency' though, and you can't help feeling their tardiness was deliberate. This, after all, is a band who are too good to get caught up in the music press' pathetic search for flavour of the week. While electro-clash as a movement has faded into the background for now, this male / female duo are on a mission to make their music, rather than a fad, relevant. Consequently their songs have impact without the front-page hype and sound-alike acts. This kind of music wears its influences on its sleeve, certainly. But whether they're recollecting Soft Cell and Depeche Mode or competing with the sexy strut of Goldfrapp, one thing's for sure - the Scissor Sister won't know what's hit 'em.
-- Victoria Durham
[view scan]

Drowned In Sound, Repeat Fanzine
Divisions of Decency, the debut album from Winchester’s monochrome synth-pop warriors Scarlet Soho, is all hard edges, stylised sounds and sharply defined lines. Synths soar over tight, squalling guitars and the clipped sounds of a drum machine, with detached, coldly emotional vocals completing the picture. Scarlet Soho manage to pack a lot of noise into sparse-sounding arrangement to create a tight, claustrophobic and threatening sound.

Divisions… is an album which invites the listener to read between the lines. The vocals are cryptic, begging interpretation, and the melodies too have a sense of things left unsaid. There’s a sadness in the music, with the contrast of scratchy, pointed guitars against sweeping, cold synthesiser combining to produce something mechanical and yet somehow aching. That ache is buried under layers of sound, a subtext rather than something explicit, but it’s very definitely there. And it’s there that the impact of this album lies; in the sense of loss and distance, of depersonalised hurt and pain.

Scarlet Soho are a band of vicarious kicks from the news at night, a cold observer sitting back and watching the battle unfold. Divisions… is a disinterested, once-removed commentary on our disinterested, once removed culture of emotional scavengers. It’s a clicking, mechanical metronome counting out the seconds of an empty adrenaline rush; the sadness of cities and the desperate faceless speed of modern life. A half-hearted taunting, a hopeless sense of anger and loss. Scarlet Soho never actually come out and say that their social commentary is a manifestation of something desperately sad, but they don’t really need to. If a straightforward telling of the state of affairs becomes a tale of something sad, that sadness will come across in the telling. And so Scarlet Soho’s music packs a paradoxical deadpan ache, from the cold vicious jab of its opening bars to the soft sweep of synth in final track 'City Behaviour'. It’s edgy, frantic, powerful stuff, which manages to be incredibly self-aware without sinking into hideous self-parody and which packs tunes and punch aplenty.
-- Holl(i)y Davies
www.drownedinsound.com, www.repeatfanzine.co.uk

Organ
Moving way over in to sleek slick synth/electro pop Erasure/Human League flavoured romo land now, they’ve got an edge to it though, a cryptic edge – they do it rather well
www.organart.com

Popex
Listening to a CD today, sometimes I still get them, this is Divisions of Decency by Scarlet Soho. Scarlet Soho are now a two piece, Jim Knights on vocals and guitars and Scarlet on bass, and they share the keyboards and computer music. This is their debut album.

There's Soft Cell in here, Depeche Mode, Erasure, Mansun, there's NO WAIT COME BACK! OK there's no Mansun, but there's a track (number 5) that reminds me of the 60ft Dolls, that's a good thing. For the younger viewer, it's like The Faint and The Departure and that sort of thing.

Not sure if I've been listening too too many low quality MP3's and radio broadcasts recently, but something's made my ears go a bit soft. This album is full of very hard punchy hifi sounds, and it sounds a bit aggressive at times. They like their tech sounds, but there's some good guitary pop in there too.

Do I have to give it marks out of ten? I give this a VERY GOOD.
-- Pauly
www.popex.com

Between Planets, Indigo Flow
Scarlet Soho's debut album is the charged electro-rock culmination of their persistent touring and the brace of previously singles ('Disconnected' and 'Isolation', both included here). The mix of overarching synths and vocals against the vibrant and persistent beats and bass works magic in conjuring dystopian imagery and a retro-futuristic sound not heard since the height of eighties electro.

Although there is an air of darkness about the album a balance is maintained by the energy that pulses throughout the tracks. From the abstracts that bookend the album through the cries of 'We Must Destroy' to the defiant 'City Behaviour' this collection is deeply satisfying.

A tiny disk of plastic and metal, no matter how great, can never hope to replace the power of a live Scarlet Soho show and if you are lucky you can get yourself into the one of the remaining dates in the latest tour.
-- Bob Gray
www.betweenplanets.co.uk, www.indigoflow.co.uk

Noyz
Potentially harbouring the equivalent spirit of 70’s punk is the groundswell in clinical electro rock and theatrics that is dominating the underground in today’s musical climes. Alongside comrades The Modern and a whole host of glacial-faced synth aficionados Southampton’s Scarlet Soho fuse the rich, dark patterns of Depeche Mode with a vocal line that edges close to the pop immediacy of Erasure’s Any Bell. ‘Divisions Of Decency’ (Human) is a captivating knot of adventurous electro-pop that doffs its cap to the dark, downbeat spirit of introverted guitar rock (the pretensions of ‘Procreation: Self Abuse’). They promise much and could yet be pegged as focal scene-shifters in the coming months.
-- Matt Brown
www.noyz.co.uk

Contact Music
In the spirit of the new wave of electro being played at the moment Scarlet Soho have produced an album in the spirit of the times. A full band sound with electro clash guitar, synthesisers and a drum machine on some songs. The lead singer sounds like the singer from Manson and has an angst similar to that singer from Placebo. The influences are quite obviously from the 80’s like Paul Newman, Blondie and Jimi Sommerville.

I suppose it really depends on what you like to whether you’ll like this. If you’re a fan of this new wave sound and like a bit of British attitude you could dig it. Personally I didn’t find it too challenging and it seemed a bit rehashed to me. However it is quite tight and certainly captures the times. Whether this sound lasts too long though we’ll just have to wait and see.
-- Tareck Ghoneim
www.contactmusic.com

Too Cool To Dance
I hope this type of music comes back I thought, as I was putting scarlet Soho’s new CD in the player and reading Xmas cards destined for my homes previous occupants. I was around during the early days of Depeche mode, Nitzerebb and Apollo 440.i remember being 16 and travelling 300 miles to London to watch Nitzerebb in a tiny venue and thinking how cool I was.

Electro was the first cool music for me It sent the rock dinosaurs of the 70’s into oblivion causing the worlds second great extinction. It brought a new level of expression where guys could where eye liner and sing songs about what actually pissed them off. It was around this time I bought my first full size synth and experimented with sequencing layered sounds, midi and arpeggiators. Scarlet Soho come from this place too and they’re new album Divisions of Decency has just been released on Human Recordings.

Some bands are good at what they do. Scarlet Soho are fantastic, They combine broody melodies with eighties electropop rhythms but they take this to a new level.

They mimic the early sounds of depeche mode perfectly but somehow manage to avoid cliché making the music their own. In the main, their music is darker and deeper but not to the point where you lose yourself completely. Scarlet Soho hold your hand allowing you to drift as deep as you want to go. You don’t listen to scarlet Soho. You travel with them to a more exciting place. Especially with track 6 ‘reveal which is bustling industrial electro. There are three obvious singles on the album. They are Modern Radio, Skin Trade and Isolation. They have uplifting anthems for chorus’s lifting you temporarily from the deep before hurtling downwards at breakneck speed.

Scarlet Soho are electro. If this music becomes mainstream they will be leading from the front. If not they’ll remain cool and edgy. I’ve got every confidence that we’ll see an electro revival.
Divisions of decency is too good to be ignored
-- Darren Smith

Sonance
Scarlet Soho are a band I've held a lot of respect for over the last couple years and I'd been awaiting this album with baited breath since they released their first single, Disconnected in October 2002. Finally it's here and it's well worth the wait.

Full of brilliant hooks, classy synth effects and of course Jim's stunning voice, there is no way that it will disappoint. It makes you want to dance, it makes you want to sing and more importantly it makes you want to listen again and again. Scarlet Soho create stunning pop songs which remain a dark unknown entity. Pop music for the modern adult world, with more punch than the average dinner party CD of choice (There's no Norah Jones or Coldplay here I'm afraid).

It sounds 80s, it sounds modern and it sounds fresh. Yes, it sounds like The Faint! Of course that is a compliment, perhaps SS lack some of the experimental and musical skills that make The Faint who they are, but Scarlet Soho are certainly force to be reckoned with and Britain should be proud to have a contender.

'Procreation: Self Abuse', Track 5 sounds just like Mansun (we've established it has something to do with Jim's nasal voice - see interview) but that's no crime either. Old classics such as Disconnected, Isolation and City Behaviour (the last 3 tracks incidentally) still sound fantastic after all this time and all three could easily be in the top 5 pop songs of the decade. As for the new songs, they just add more classics to their repertoire.

Lyrically, Scarlet Soho are far from straightforward. They leave things up to you. Read what you like into their view of this city driven, modern world. Musically the stark electronics, upbeat tempo and dark driving bass just add to the bleak look at the world around them.

Scarlet Soho are a tight, well oiled machine and we can only hope that the inclusion of new guitarist Nicky will just add to their talents and result in an even fuller sound, some new songs and an even tighter machine, that is ready to teach the world a lesson.

Electronic music, The 80s and sounding like Mansun isn't something to be ashamed of and it's about time people realise that.
www.sonance.co.uk

Bubblegum Slut
Scarlet Soho have been one of the brightest black lights of the underground for some 4 years now, producing a string of perfect dark pop singles and gigging tirelessly. Their long-awaited debut album keeps this fine track record, splicing the retro futurepop of Kraftwerk and the poker faced prophets of computer love who followed them with sharp witted lyrics that cut to the heart of the realties of a computer age and shot of youthful energy in the dusty old 80s formula. Contrary to the common rules of making an album there isn't a filler track to be found here - each one of these impossibly catchy babies is potential single material.

'City Behavior' paints the rat-race in spartan synths and whining, typically Mansun-esque vocals, 'Programmed To Perfection' is Depeche Mode collides with T-Rex in a riotous electro-glam stompalong, while the album's sole ballad 'Procreation:Self Abuse' is every bit as caustic and nihilistic as the title might suggest. 'Divisions Of Decency' may offer very little hope for the society it examines, but amid a dull crop of 80s revivalists it pulses with all the vital signs to suggest synthpop just got the shot in the arm it so desperately need.
-- Alison B
www.bubblegumslutfanzine.1hwy.com

Southscene
Finally, after what seems like an eternity, Scarlet Soho have overcome the disastrous news that one of their core members was leaving and have delivered one of the best albums of the year. I have often lazily (although justifiably) compared them to Depeche Mode in the past, but when presented with a full body of work it is clearly apparent that Scarlet Soho have so much more to offer. Stealing everything that made the 80’s synth pop movement good and completely by-passing what made it so bad, Scarlet Soho have produced a musical masterpiece that is full of nostalgic references, but without a shadow of doubt, very much a product of the here and now.

There are too many stand-out tracks to mention and not one duff moment among them!
Carving out their own niche in modern electro rock music, the beats are made up of traditional keyboard drum kits. They are however suitably beefed up to make full use of the dynamic range of decent modern hi-fi equipment as well as making the dance floor rattle! The Synths also make knowing references to their more naïve roots, but again, there is an added element of sinister mangling going on. Along with some inspired use of buzz-saw like guitars, this approach suits the cold-natured direction of Scarlet Soho’s observational lyrics. A bleak, post-modern view on today’s un-hinged society, Scarlet Soho are the killer virus to wipe out today’s current trend of banally introspective bands like Keane and their ilk, instead preferring to offer us a more sterile and acute approach. Fortunately for them (and us), this does not mean their music is devoid of emotion and feeling. Somehow they mange to be cold on the outside, but dig deeper and whilst their heart is clearly not worn on their collective sleeve, this music does in fact have a very big heart indeed.

Did I once say they sounded like Depeche Mode? On the evidence of ‘Divisions of Decency’ I’m more inclined to say they sound like the bastard mutant offspring of Erasure, The Human League, Marilyn Manson and Alec Empire!!
-- Mike Spall
www.southscene.net

The Mag
Following in the stead of two very strong singles, the long awaited debut album from Scarlet Soho, "Divisions of Decency", is an explosive head on collision of electro, pop and rock. Two decades of reference material are a clear influence, but innovation is evident with every twist and turn.

"Abstract Composition Part One" starts things off with the bass guitar sound of Simon Gallup and guitars and keyboards that melt together until it's almost impossible to tell one where ends and the other begins. The absence of vocals in this first track is quickly balanced by "We Must Destroy", which starts with an angular lyric, which is delivered in slick style by Jim Knights. This track, along with "Reveal", introduce the rockier side of Scarlet Soho while songs such as "Modern Radio", "Skin Trade" and "Disconnected" demonstrate the synthetic side of their music. More facets are evident in the dark mood of "Procreation: Self Abuse" and in the epic pop chorus and Cure-esque solo of "Isolation".

The final song on offer, "City Behaviour", has all the hallmarks of a classic pop song with great melodies in the verse and a great chorus. However, the epic nine minute length would no doubt be cut for a radio edit, which would mean having to buy the 12" single or the album to get the full benefit of the track.

The common threads that flow throughout the album include exquisite layers of sound that mix sequenced rhythmic noises with floating synth. The vocal sound also changes with each song, at times sounding like Robert Smith and, at others, like Michael Hutchence.

In all there isn't a single song that doesn't earn its place on this record with 10 distinct musical compositions that open the door to the many tangents that Jim and Scarlet explore in their songwriting.

Scarlet Soho have force-fed the dry sterility of electronic music with an emergency-mix of creative innovation, crashing guitars and energetic melodies and it looks like it's off the critical list! 7/10
-- Steve Fenton
www.the-mag.me.uk

Dripfed
I'm genuinely glad that Scarlet Soho have released of album of such breathtaking grandeur.

For the past few years, this Hampshire-based band has built up something of a cult underground following following on from their UK-roving gigs and fantastic music.

So far, their single releases have included the fabulously produced 'Disconnected' anthem that brightened up the darkest days of 2002, before this year's 'Isolation' brought the SS sound up to speed prior to the release of this debut album… a 10-track, 37-minute wonder.

One of the most immediately noticeable things about their live band set-up is the fact that Scarlet Soho don't have a drummer. Much of their music revolves around deft programming that produces the drum beats to which mainman Jim Knights plays guitar and sings.

Scarlet plays bass, whilst both Jim and Scarlet play keyboards and set up the aforementioned programming that is so essential to their sound. Until recently there was also another guitarist embroiled in the SS fold, but Lee Kinrade is no longer a member.

But what the hell, for Jim and Scarlet are coping fantastically well as a duo. As for this album, 'Divisions of Decency' is one of the most exciting releases of 2004, if not the 20th Century full stop.

One wonders how the hell the likes of Franz Ferdinand have risen to such prominence when bands such as SS remain relatively unknown, especially when SS songs are far, far, far, far, far catchier and more exhilarating than anything the FF boys have so far produced.

Just imagine the funk-a-thonic, groove-tastic, soul-slamming scope of music that would result if all the stronghold musical elements of Duran Duran, Ultravox, Placebo and Gary Numan were whimsically mixed and mashed, and you might come fleetingly close to the sound of Scarlet Soho, as the short-but-great opening instrumental track 'Abstract Composition' beats up 'We Must Destroy.'

Their 'Modern Radio' is a wickedly upbeat blast of meticulously moody 'pop rock' that positively heaves with Ultravox-inspired programming, before the breakneck beats of 'Skin Trade' are bought out by a strong sense of Gothic romance courtesy of Jim's exquisitely styled vocals.

Melancholic masterpiece 'Procreation' is one of the albums' most subdued numbers but no less enthralling in nature, before SS vault back into a catchier stride with their 'Reveal' tune.

Still, it's the final three songs that are by far and away the most amazing tracks on offer here, as the astonishing and frankly awe-inspiring triple-header in 'Disconnected,' 'Isolation' and 'City Behaviour' presents a strong case for such songs being some of the best pop songs of all time. No joke.

Having worked with Delays producer Justin Callaway, this SS enterprise has done itself proud. Their Electro-orientated 'pop-rock' sound is so refreshing that you will be quite excused for putting this album on 'repeat-play' for years at a time. It's certainly not your fault that they are so good…
-- Steve Rudd
www.dripfed.co.uk

Vanity Project
Now down from trio to duo, the debut album arrives at last and it appears the reduction of personnel seems to have focused them. The singles that have been released in the 2 years prior to this have lacked a certain something but, as a package, this album shows them in their best light as they continue to plug away and get the attention their tunes and persistence deserve. Central to their being is a firm grip on electro-pop and leading it to slightly darker places, a la Depeche Mode, although these areas are tinged dark red rather than black, of course. Traces of Magazine, The Cure and Mansun are also in the pot, allowing for a multi-dimensional take on the electro theme. Too many hooks don’t necessarily spoil the goth (sorry).
-- Skif
www.vanityproject.co.uk

God Is In The TV
Electro clash, a few years ago it was set to be the big new genre in music the NME was salivating over Fischerspooner's "Emerge" and they claimed that the new scene was about to spark into life in a way not seen since the 80's Romo scene. Cut forward three years and electro clash sound is still stuck on the operating table, there are signs of life though witness the success of the scissor sister's although not my favourite group they started off as part of this scene before exploding nationally with their brand of 70's pop/rock/glam, elsewhere The Faint dubbed the "evil Duran Duran" are tearing up the smaller venues of the UK and US and have released two albums of enormous quality.

Now step forward Scarlet Soho: Jim Knight(lead singer/guitarist) and Scarlet(keyboards) have spent time concocting the right medicine, a sound that links emotion with machine and synth with guitars. It’s sound that will revive the electro beast and inspire this underground scene over ground. Despite losing Lee their guitarist half way through the recordings of this their debut, the Soho have regrouped and produced an album of unique quality. The Opener's instrumental synth sounds like the opening beats of the Eurhythmics’ Sweet Dreams but bastardises it into something new. Bursting into your face is "We must destroy", a beastly mix of sleaze rock and pomp and it’s quite simply brilliant!

Second track "Modern radio" is similarly brilliant, echoing Duran Duran's "Girls on film," it has a brilliant stop start electro sound, backed up by Scarlet's forceful keys and Jim's excellent melodic delivery, the "ohh ohh's!" adding extra drama to the main chorus when they are delivered to your ears. Modern radio is a track that puts the Soho up there with The Faint in their expert delivery of the 80's style ice-cold electro clash sound.

On “The Skin Trade" Jim Knight sounds like Simon Le Bon and Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode as he ejaculates a kick ass clinical piece of glam synth pop. Lyrically the track conjures up images of sex, clinics and disappointment as Jim puts across his lines with a sublime camp departure "Then they wanna work with you /Till the day you die/ In the Skin Trade My dreams came tumbling down!"

Elsewhere Procreation: Self Abuse is a tender buzzing guitar hymn to failure and pain as Jim paints himself as a Christ like figure "Nail my hands to the wall" and his desperately weary voice bemoans: "All the broken homes for all the broken bones" and his own self abuse.

Reveal is a rather disappointing Depeche Mode bside soundalike, while "Programmed to Perfection" is great, high-camp vocals are backed by the dirt ridden sound of NIN. Finishing with the album’s two singles: the immense power of "Disconnected" with its Mansun-esque dynamics, and "Isolation" one of my singles of the year and an ice cold electro indie classic.

My only gripe with this album is the ending “City Behaviour” is a good enough electronic glam stomp that sounds like the Pet Shop Boys grinding up against New Order in some greasy London club but it doesn't have the feel of an epic closer that, say, another Soho track "No Encore" would have had. Overall a brilliant album, that deals with the twin themes of disaffection and emptiness in a modern world to the sound track of the finest electro indie. Make way! Scarlet Soho are delivering electro shock treatment to the comatose corpse of electro clash!
-- Bill Cummings
www.god-isinthetv.tk

Heathen Angel
Finally! I could barely contain my joy when the jiffy bag dropped through my letterbox. You see some of us have been waiting on the Scarlet Soho Album for a very long time indeed since the releases of ‘Isolation’ and the previous, slightly more underground ‘Disconnected’.

After all this time I’m glad to say that ‘Divisions of decency’ is a debut album that does not disappoint. The album opens with the short instrumental track ‘Abstract Composition Number One’ that builds up ‘We Must Destroy’ before continuing on through track after track of Greatness.

Particularly stand-out tracks include ‘Programmed to perfection’ with its Depeche Mode – ‘Personal Jesus’ Feel with a nice amount of synth; and the Scarlet Soho anthem ‘ Disconnected’, which has been re-vamped for the album release, sounding far superior to the previous single.

‘Divisions of Decency’ is an album that could easily please a wide range of people, with catchy electro/synth driven ‘pop-rock’ tracks such as ‘Modern Radio’, to the moody, melancholic ‘Procreation: Self Abuse’. As for the album as a whole, there is not really a bad track at all, it’s the kind of CD that you will have in your player on repeat for a good while (like me over the past few weeks!)

This really is a great album from a great band. 8/10
-- Stefan Dewer
www.heathenangel.co.uk

DJ/Club Reactions:

Little Civic, Wolverhampton
WHAT A FUCKING AMAZINGLY AWESOME AND FANTASTIC ALBUM!! This album is right up my street and the way that I am trying to take my style musically! ELECTRO PUNK IS THE WAY!! They really do remeind me of Depeche Mode and Joy Division as well as more recent music like The Faint, Chikinki and Mansun. LOVE THIS! MASSIVE SUPPORT! WE LOVE IT!
www.wolvescivic.co.uk

Vive Le Rock, Southend
My god! It's 1983 all over again! This is cool! the Killers are the new Duran Duran and Scarlet Soho are the new Depeche Mode! Sorry to use so many exclamation marks, but I can't help it! It's that good.
www.vivelerock.co.uk

The Tube Club, London
This is good for electronica. It mixes and matches all sorts of influences and really does a good job. Its good honest music, and really has good tempo and we like it a lot. 4/5
www.thetubeclub.co.uk

Shakedown, Northampton
Ace in every way!
www.thesoundhaus.com

Pop/Fab/Satan's Hollow, Manchester
Very 80's and very cool. Sounds pretty different to anything I've heard really. Can see the doing quite well really on the back of hearing this. Cool as fuck.

Moloko's, Cardiff
They not only do the retro new romantic thing superbly, they manage to actually sound like an excellent band from that era despite the up-to-date studio trickery. All in all a great body of songs and with the resurgence of the electro/electroclash sound, never a better time to play them out.

The Social, London
Absolutely loving this mix of old skool 80's synth sounds and up to date punk funk style. Some excellent tunes on here. Very retro and yet also very current
www.thesocial.com

Evol, Edinburgh
It's good gothy doom rock with a strong meoldy or two. I like it and it smells of the 80's - that's quite a good thing.
www.liquidroom.com

MFI, Brighton
Blimey! I could say some really nasty things about this record, all to do with sounding like Soft Cell, Erasure, Depeche Mode and The Eurythmics, which would usually send me into an angry, snarling frenzy; but somehow they do it all with so much energy (admirable in itself when you rely so much on computers) that they almost completely manage to pull it off. I'm not predicting anything but they have an 'x-factor' that could just lead to hugeness.

Incredible record that weirdly reminds me of The Mars Volta.

Offbeat/Synthetic, Sheffield
Having not heard of them since the excellent Disconnected, pleased to see they've finally got an album together. Worth the wait too; when they ditch the guitar or have it down in the mix, they sound like the perfect marriage of Depeche Mode, Human League and Seventeen Seconds-era Cure, or alternatively very early Simple Minds - City Behaviour is a dead ringer for the Minds' classic I Travel. This band will be massive at our synthetic nights once this is released.
www.shef.ac.uk/~offbeat/

Stone Love, Newcastle
Love this - Brilliant. Can't stop listening to it. Sound very 80's but also very fresh. great stuff.

Twisted By Design, Cardiff
If this had been released in 1981 it would have been hailed as a work of genius. I suspect the band could have a bit of criticism for their retro sound. I hope people look past that as this is a stunning album. Yes, it's very Depeche Mode at times but yet it still sounds incredibly fresh and the songs should speak for themselves. I intend to play this until people submit!
www.twistedbydesign.co.uk

Popscene, Cardiff
An undiscovered gem indeed
www.clwb.net

Reviews

• Modern Radio
• Divisions Of Decency
• Isolation
• Live