REVIEWSS.C.U.M., ‘Again Into Eyes’

6

• SPIN Rating:6 of 10

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Release Date: October 4, 2011
Label: mute

They can name themselves after an infamous radical-feminist essay and collaborate with all the cutting-edge visual artists they want, but that doesn't change the fact that S.C.U.M.'s greatest selling point is a singer, Thomas Cohen, who somehow sounds like a more sexily disenchanted version of the Violent Femmes' Gordon Gano. This guitarless London quartet tries to seduce you with darkly ambient keyboard flourishes, ghostly vocals, and a bold disavowal of obvious hooks. ButAgain Into Eyesonly trulyperks up near the end when they call up their inner Psychedelic Furs on more straightforwardly swooning ballads like "Faith Unfolds."