We would like to introduce the five song strong Scrimmage Shark EP by Whispering Olympians.
The opening of the EP explodes with the harmless and slippery vaudevillian dynamite caper Blue & Slack, a song that will have all the young smoothies forging new dance moves, and the old fishermen angling for a new way to curse the sea with benedictions. It’s a song that is not sure how to mourn, or if it’s necessary, in the face of dead or puzzling new---love. While on the surface, "Parlous State" seems to follow a narrative involving a game where both sides forfeit but continue to play, it’s powerful undercurrent takes on a theme that might be dubbed ‘a beautiful struggle,’ one that finds continuing strength even as murkiness of purpose and outcome seems to get an upper-hand on existing pleasures and those that may result from danger and surprise. Alternately, the plucky guitar and whistled driven "Laff Olympics" brings a slightly twisty roadmap of directions to a lover or friend that wishes to exit the games that have left her bitten, mocked, and defeated. The song is a bit of a spoof on an old Hannah Barbara cartoon called ‘The Laff-A-lympics. The songs are witty, literal, kinky-haired, and hairless, full of heart, and peaceful at core despite the turbulent waves inhabiting them which keeps a listener locked in mildly. The epic musical take on a Little House on the Prairie episode that details a community fighting back against a gaggle of hoodwinkers has a slow lumbering intensity, whereas Snopes Was Right is a broken-in straight ahead rock n roll jump-suit you can wear to the end of the world dance, or your friend’s started-smoking again party.
The arrangements are tight, and relaxed. Song styles are diverse. One will leave and return to this album itching for more electric baritone, and humming its offerings.