Scarecrow Frequency

Somber Atlantic

Somber Atlantic Records




For every dead end road that leads nowhere, there’s probably a “last resort” saloon somewhere along the way to warn those who venture of their last stop before their impending trip to empty earth. And for every one of these fine such establishments, there’s probably no house band, but alas, there is now an act that could fill such shoes, in the form of a solo project by Mr. John Argetsinger, an Alaskan native songwriter/photographer, aptly named Scarecrow Frequency. Maybe it’s the vast expanses that the state offers, or the months with no sunlight, one can only imagine, but at his best, Argetsinger manages to convey a distant, sparse nature to rock music with this first effort recorded at home on an 8-track cassette recorder and PC. But regardless of where the project hails from, the imagery that is captured so well sounds like that from a vagabond, as Argetsinger’s music gives a sense of wonder as well as a sense of wander in all it’s grandiosity. Tracks like “Hope” and “Body In The Slot Canyon” offer vignettes of musical introspection in a clean, instrumental fashion that calls to mind a small part of Explosions In The Sky’s rock sound of crisp tone. “San Antonio” offers a similar vibe, but with a mellow almost-jazz drum beat to hold it together. On a different note, “And I’ll Sell All My Nightmares” conjures up a shoegaze pace of clean guitars over a reverb-heavy guitar backdrop with longing vocals shuffling forth in the mix for a strong, constant, one-parted number that will have one digging out early Mogwai records. Although most of the record is instrumental, Argetsinger also play’s a bit with tape loops and sound samples to keep the record interesting, namely on the title track and “1963,” which offers the artist’s take on providing a musical soundtrack to Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream…” speech. All in all, Argetsinger’s work here feels like an artist’s first, bleeding with vision and in an entirely deep manner that new artists embrace with something to prove. It’s no doubt that this kid’s got a future ahead of him in music, as he carves pretty deep into creativity with Somber Atlantic. However, the only thing the record has working against it is that some of it tends to blend too well, with added elements being the only things that separate some of the tracks from sounding too much like others. Despite this though, if this aspect truly is the Achilles’ heel of this release, Scarecrow Frequency will be pretty close to invincible if Argetsinger sticks to the same nod that brought him to this point. There’s room for growth here, but all in good time. This would be a great driving record for those times when you’ve got nowhere to go.


Scarecrow Frequency

Somber Atlantic Records