I was rapt with joy upon discovering that the library had acquired the first U.S. release of the Scala & Kolacny Brothers choir. Trying to explain what it is that Scala & Kolacny Brothers exactly do is like trying to explain to an old Italian woman who has never been to the U.S. what American pizza is: It resembles something she is familiar with and is made up of ingredients that she no doubt possesses acute working knowledge of, but alternately in no way shape or form is an exact replica of the image she conjures when the word ‘pizza’ is spoken, especially in light of the seemingly random mixture of those particular ingredients. Thus it is with this particular music.
In the simplest terms, Scala & Kolacny Brothers are an all-girl chorus ( going by the stage name of Scala) led by two brothers (surname ‘Kolacny’) from Belgium who re-interpret popular songs (mostly from the “indie” and “alternative” genres) with the simplest of piano and occasional string accompaniment.
Now, this could have gone one of two ways:
- Two over-bearing musicians attempt to cajole syrupy, overwrought performances out of marginally talented pre-teens in a short-sighted attempt to cash in on what appears to be one of the only artistically viable popular music genres.
OR
- Two music students-turned-choir directors get bored with life in their small Belgian town, form an all-girl chorus, roll-out some imaginative versions of popular songs and manage to side-step the minefield that is the pretentious nature of covering pop songs in a classical milieu.
Thank goodness this album is the result of the second rather than the first!
First off, when it comes to cover albums no one “bats a thousand,” as the baseball parlance goes. A success rate greater than 50% usually denotes a pretty solid and listenable album. As a rule cover albums (Considering 10 of the 13 tracks are songs made famous by other performers) in general are dangerous territory to tread upon. Even with the best of intentions, myriad circumstances (song choice, execution, style-changes) can torpedo an otherwise potentially effective collection of interpretations.
With that said, it is accurate to say that 5 out of the 10 covers are imaginative, impeccably executed, and wonderfully effective. Whether it’s inverting Metallica’s sludgy ballad, “Nothing Else Matters” from a guitar-centered rock ballad into a plaintive, gauzy appeal to one’s beloved or stripping the psychedelia from Oasis’s late 90s Brit pop masterpiece “Champagne Supernova” and emphasizing the inherent beauty of the lyric and melody, Scala and Kolacny Brothers do their best work on songs that are already epic and grandiose in nature. U2’s “With or Without You” is morphed from bass-driven, couples-skate number into a stark and haunting elegy that might sound more appropriate as a wedding processional than a soundtrack to an episode of Friends.
And then there is the coup de grace (and the singular track that introduced me and countless others via The Social Network’s film trailer to the group): a reworking of Radiohead’s seminal track, “Creep.” Taking an already angst-ridden anthem of adolescent awkwardness and turn it into even something more…something transcendent, something universal. In fact, this track above all others demonstrates how to perfectly cover a song: Take an already great song, reinvent it with a different arrangement, and allow the brilliance of the song to shine through in a completely new and brilliant light.
But, sadly, not all of the choices work. Even after twenty years, it’s still too soon to cover Nirvana (especially “Smells Like Teen Spirit”). Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill” comes across as slow and uninspired while all the energy of Depeche Mode’s “I Feel You” is zapped right out. While a cover of an Alanis Morisette’s “Ironic” could be a good idea, here it falls flat as the sing-along nature of the chorus is ironed out into mediocrity.
So, while not all of the performances are noteworthy there is still quite a bit about this CD to get excited about. While it’s not easy to create a disc’s worth of totally effective and imaginative covers, the Scala & Kolacny Brother chorus has created some inventive and provocative music. Whether one might be searching for something new and exotic or exploring strange interpretations of established artists, this CD should satisfy both of those endeavors.