Scout
New York City, New York, United States | INDIE
Music
Press
All Those Relays takes on the many sides of love and is probably the ideal album to listen to this Valentine’s Day, whether you’re in a relationship or single. With Ashen Keilyn leading the way, Scout is a band that deserves to be heard and they are on people’s radar. At the end of 2012, ABC News named Scout #7 on The 50 Best Albums of 2012 and it was a worthy achievement. Scout shows independent bands that it is possible to be successful on a larger scale if you work hard at your craft. - Word Krapht
“I’m not sure how it is that I haven’t heard about Scout yet, but if this video is any indication of what they do, I’m already sold.” - Hearingade
“I’m not sure how it is that I haven’t heard about Scout yet, but if this video is any indication of what they do, I’m already sold.” - Hearingade
"One thing’s for certain: “All Those Relays” is an arresting record that should result in some rightful historical revisionism. By all accounts, this album should be a career-changer. “So Close,” “Under Attack” and “Some Things Never Change” are hits waiting to happen." - ABC News
"This band take something that is so beautiful and authentic about New Music/Pop and add their own unique sound." - Sphere Music
“brings to mind the indie-pop throwback sounds of Spoon with a helping of Arcade Fire arena anthems in the mix.”
- Pop Matters
I’ve loved Scout ever since I had the pleasure of hearing her EP, Pi. Now she’s got a full proper record, which you NEED to hear. - Berkeley Place
“Solid pop tunes, with Keilyn's gorgeous vocals on top.” - Aiding and Abetting
"['Under Attack' is] one of All Those Relays' most powerful songs, four and a half minutes of propulsive percussion, haunting piano and singer Ashen Keilyn's catchiest chorus yet." - Indie Today
Let me be completely honest with you for just a moment (not to imply that I lie to you under normal circumstances). I listen to these CDs over and over again before I sit down to write my little reviews. I rarely ever, no matter how much I liked something, listen to it after the review is completed. Scout, however, seems like it might be an exception. I foresee a bright future ahead for me and this disc. I look forward to us growing old together.
Singer Ashen Keilyn's early influences include The Replacements and The Pixies. Her band follows in the tradition of these alt-rock pioneers with solid songs and genuine delivery. Her voice is the combination of Kim Deal's breathiness and Joan Jett's attitude. She has everything that I like in a female vocalist, and none of the stuff I don't.
This Soft Life is finely produced, melodic indie-rock, recorded in the
band's basement. The album is bookended by Unlimited Weekends and Fly on the Window, which are both somber yet adventurous. The songs that fill the middle are generally more upbeat and catchy. My favorites are Here Come the Waterworks, Here's The Thing, and a version of Just between You and Me that will have you believing it was Scout's song in the first place.
Think of Scout as a more sophisticated Breeders, only better. Holy $hit, I cant believe I said that (Forgive me, Kim!). But it's true. I'll be listening to This Soft Life long after I've forgotten Title TK. I strongly recommend this one.
-Jake Cansado
- Left Off the Dial
"Although the world hasn't figured it out yet, Scout singer Ashen Keilyn is a star..."
- Village Voice
"[Scout's new album] This Soft Life would be SCOUT's early magnum opus, if it weren't apparent this band only gets better"
- CMJ New Music Monthly
"Scout combines indie fervor with old-school pop. Three Stars" - Rolling Stone
Discography
All Those Relays
LP-Invisible Brigades, 2012
Pi
EP- Invisible Brigades, 2012
This Soft Life
LP - ModMusic Records, 2003
Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted
LP - Ceramic Records, 2001
It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time
LP- ModMusic Records, 2000
Someplace Would Be Nice
EP - Chrysalis Music, 1998
Plague Dogs / Dreamcatchers
7" - Deep Elm Records, 1997
Photos
Bio
“All Those Relays” is an arresting record that should result in some rightful historical revisionism. By all accounts, this album should be a career-changer. “So Close,” “Under Attack” and “Some Things Never Change” are hits waiting to happen.
-Allan Raible - ABCNews
With All Those Relays, the band’s first album since 2003, Ashen Keilyn has deconstructed her band and put it back together piece-by-piece — new players, new producers and, most importantly, the best songs of Keilyn’s career.
Scout’s new chapter finds Keilyn simultaneously at her most emotionally raw and her toughest yet, creating an album both empowering and vulnerable — and catchy as hell. It all adds up to mean the breathless praise piled on her music from Billboard, SPIN, The New York Times and others rings true today. As the Village Voice wrote, “Ashen Keilyn is a star.”
Scout dropped its debut EP, Someplace Would Be Nice, in 1998 on Chrysalis; its breakthrough album, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, followed just two years later. On the strength of huge buzz from the album, Scout appeared on NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” became an Editor’s Choice pick at Amazon.com, had tracks featured in films and TV and toured with rock icons Sunny Day Real Estate.
After 2003 follow-up, The Soft Life, though, it was time to take a break. Keilyn began working with other musicians and recording with new producers, but one thing was apparent: Ashen Keilyn was the beating heart of Scout, no matter who rounded out the lineup. With that freedom, Keilyn set out to create All Those Relays, inspired by music, film and the idiosyncrasies of everyday life. Scout’s new music was created organically, each song born exactly when it was ready. Some ache with the melancholy of Cat Power. Some float like the folk of Azure Ray. But each track is anchored by her hushed voice. Keilyn took her time with this music, and her careful, relaxed writing makes for gorgeous, free-flowing songs.
“I feel like a big sponge. I take my experiences in life and turn them into music,” she says. “That requires a lot of living. I have to put a lot in to get a little tune out.” To create the 10 tracks of All Those Relays, then, Keilyn could’ve lived 10 lifetimes — each song is a world unto itself, a new driving rhythm, an endlessly melodic hook and lyrics that navigate the soaring highs and devastating lows of love. Keilyn has created an album for sleepless nights, but also for the morning when you realize that everything is going to be fine. No, everything is going to be great.
Working with such a talented crew didn’t hurt, either. Drummer/producer Jim Eno from Spoon recorded three songs; Hurricane Bells mastermind and former Longwave frontman Steve Schiltz co-produced the rest of the album, recording with Ashen in their Queens studio. With the band rounded out by old friends Jason Molina and Shannon Ferguson from Longwave, the album is loaded with talent — and sound.
One song, “Under Attack,” began as a sparse demo. In the studio, the band laid down 128 different tracks, including three drum sets, three basses and layers of vocals. The result? One of All Those Relays’ most powerful songs, four and a half minutes of propulsive percussion, haunting piano and Keilyn’s catchiest chorus yet.
First to drop will be an EP, PI, featuring three songs from All Those Relays, a Guided By Voices cover and one unreleased track, “Songs to Strangers.” With a new record completed and an EP ready to go, what happens now? “I’m allowing thing to happen at their own pace.” says Keilyn. But on the strength of All Those Relays, that pace is going to be quick.
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