Scala & Kolacny Brothers: Scala & Kolacny Brothers

Scala & Kolacny Brothers: Scala & Kolacny Brothers
Trent Reznor won an Oscar for his work on The Social Network soundtrack yet the song probably most closely associated with the movie is Scala‘s version of Radiohead‘s “Creep.” The Belgian girls choir recorded their version of “Creep” back in 2002 but it never achieved international success until it was used in the commercial campaign for the movie. To capitalize on the success of the song, Warner Brothers signed the group and put out a self-titled compilation with songs Scala recorded over the last decade.
In Europe, Scala has released nine albums since their founding in 1996. The self-titled album gathers tracks from a few of the nine albums, choosing the songs that would be most pleasing to American audiences. From 2002’s On The Rocks is the cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” and a version of Nirvana‘s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” From 2004’s Dream On is the cover of U2‘s “With Or Without You.”
The rest of the songs on the self-titled album come from the choir’s most recent studio album, 2010’s Circle. The selections from Circle includes a beautiful version of “Champagne Supernova” which seems made for a choir. The choir, only accompanied by a single piano, really draw the melancholy out of the song. Other choices seem much less made for a choir. For example, Alanis Morissette‘s “Ironic” sounds ridiculous as a plodding choir piece.
Perhaps the most noteworthy songs on the album is the Steven Kolacny written, “Our Last Fight”, “Masquerade (Of Fools)”, and “Seashell.” The two songs are the only ones to break the format of choir accompanied by a sole piano. “Our Last Fight” mixes in some drum programming that sounds very Massive Attack inspired. “Seashell” seems to up the ante by mixing in not only drum programming but actual drums as well.
Unfortunately these mold-breaking songs are quarantined towards the back of the album in a little group. I would have these tracks intermingled with the covers so there was more of a chance people would listen to them. They appear to be very well written track but I fear that once the covers are over, people will turn off the album. I guess Scala should just be happy that Warner Bros. let them put on any original tracks at all and not just all covers. The originals show that the choir is not just a one-trick pony.
Rating: 7.2/10
MP3: Scala & Kolacny Brothers “Champagne Supernova”
Buy: iTunes

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