Even those unfamiliar with the previous musical output of Edinburgh’s Sacre Noir would imagine them, from their very name, as creatures of the night and their new EP “Scattershot” would soon confirm that as a fact with even the addition of a singer songwriter - D.Soul the Soulsamurai – to their ranks failing to allow them to walk into the sunshine.
Let’s not consider this EP as any sort of failure though for it has successfully managed to initiate a transformation of sorts for this distinctly underground band with their inherent theatricality being supplanted by a more intellectual, even poetic style that actually succeeds in making their music more accessible. The power that drives the songs along remains entirely, and bleakly, synthetic yet you can now detect a certain wistfulness for better times that extends beyond the barriers of the stage. Carrie Beattie’s voice, for example, is notably huskier than before and, even when her voice is far to the fore as it is in “Damn You and Me”, she sounds vulnerable as if her soul were forever haunted by the ghost of Victorian melodrama.
That said, it is “Knives” that is the standout track on this EP with its hypnotic minimalism being balanced by the contrasting vocal styles of Ms. Beattie and D.Soul the Soulsamurai. That, as Mr. Punch might say, is the way to do it.
The EP is available from Bandcamp.