First there was Eastern Lane. Now it's the turn of The Scheme to show that England's most remote outpost, Berwick-upon-Tweed, is actually a thriving hotbed for new music.
Having spent the last year gigging intensively throughout the UK, 'The Hurricane EP' takes the best bits from their live set and puts them through the blender - aka the studio mix.
In vocalist Mark Reid, The Scheme have their own James Walsh with the wavering lilt of a young Ian McCulloch thrown in for good measure. The former is aptly demonstrated on both 'Caught In A Hurricane' and 'Sinking Ship', either of which could have graced (and probably improved) the aforementioned 'sailor's 'Love Is Here'.
However, The Scheme really come into their own on the incessant groove-laden epic that is 'It Grows On You', a throbbing behemoth of a tune that recalls 'Second Coming' era Stone Roses and the more ambitious stylings of The Music. As wah-wah pedals collide with an array of pounding beats, it suggests that this band's long term guise may well lie in the creation of grandiose aural sculptures, rather than taking the conventionally easier descent into trad-rock mediocrity.
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6Dom Gourlay's Score