Album Review: Ratty Scurvics -A Wooden Nickel On Fire

Ratty Scurvics

A Wooden Nickel on Fire

***and 1/2 out of *****

On his newest solo effort the constantly creating artist Ratty Scurvics puts his talents into crafting an engaging collection of songs that recall David Bowie dramatics and style.  The New Orleans multi-instrumentalist touches on quite a few genre's but keeps a constant musical theme throughout. 

The opening "Cheap Suits" shoves that Bowie influence to the front of things but also wraps the listener up in intriguing lyrics and big swells.  Theatrical tendencies show up throughout but never overwhelm things with an off-Broadway feel. Other tracks in that vibe are "Is It Over", "Mistake" with it's instrumental intro, the marching drums on the rising "Don't Tell" and "Weapons" which is big and bright containing fuzzed up guitar lines and passionate singing.

There is a light industrial/electronica feel to "Start!" with it's laser guitars and "Dirty Strokes" with digital enhancements present but the acoustic guitar and chanted poetic lyrics ringing memorable. "Banana's" ends things on a lighter tone with organs that sound church like mixed with up an upbeat silly chorus, showing two of the many sides of this musician. A track like "Pulling on Golem Locks" proves how chaotic things can get with metal like smashes before dipping into quiet, creepy whispered vocals; Scurvics is obviously comfortable in any style of musicality.    

Having worked on everything from writing musicals to scoring films to noise rocking live performance's Scurvics can't sit still, but if it keeps him creating music as rich as A Wooden Nickel On Fire then keep rolling on solider. 
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We first heard Ratty back when we caught wind of The Rough Seven, and we interviewed him for that album's release.  We have met him briefly a few times at the shows we have seen, for the longest at our show of the year from 2011, but also hope to talk to him more in the upcoming months regarding his numerous projects. 

Grab the album here, follow Ratty Here,  and here and you can stream the album below: