Album Review: Scott Collins EP Headed North leaves you wanting more
Some folks have the innate ability to see the silver lining. The glass is always half-full with positive people like Austin songwriter Scott Collins. The affable singer makes friends wherever he goes with his optimistic outlook. “I personally feel I lived my dream the first show I ever played,” Collins explains. “I felt it on stage. In that moment I told myself ‘now it’s only about hard work and paying it forward’.” Truthfully, it’s hard not to like the guy.
Collins also makes incredibly good music as you’ll hear on his five-song EP, Headed North which was released May 31 on his own Side Show Paradise label. The short but powerful EP is the kind of record that leaves you wanting more. That is the hallmark of a gifted songwriter.
Collins recorded Headed North (his third EP) at Grammy-nominated producer Frenchie Smith’s The Bubble Studio. Mastered by Alex Lyon for The Bubble, this record feels intimate but polished consisting of Collin’s work on guitar with help from multi instrumentalist, Einar Pedersen. The singer revealed that Smith’s “rock genius” and Pedersen’s focus gave him “the tools to get to the next level. There was a lot of evolution on this recording.”
The first track, “After the Show” is not only one of our favorite songs on the album, it’s inspired by a conversation Collins had with A Giant Dog and Sweet Spirit lead singer, Sabrina Ellis about the challenges of touring as a female artist. It’s a fine song to lead off the EP. Not only does the song have a nice hook in it, but the lyrics paint a vivid picture:
guided by your fortune
lost when you found hope
but you’re better now off on your own
everybody holds you
you’re burnt, you spilled your soul
and the band is gone but they never let you go
Title track “Headed North” stands out as well, with lyrics punctuated by guitar riffs and vocal overdubs that flesh out the chorus into catchy phrasing that imprints on the listener’s brain decisively. The song is a profoundly enjoyable listen.
Final song, “One Sick Man” has the kind of lofty, bombastic feel that brings a sense of grandiosity to the morbid subject matter, a dying man, begging to be buried on his own land. Soaring melodies accompany Collin’s emotional, raw vocal delivery. The song abruptly finishes, leaving the listener wanting more.
Grab a copy of Headed Home on Collins’ Bandcamp page and thank us later.
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