| ***While best known as the frontman for Silver Scooter, Scott Garred has stepped away from the indie rock for his first full-length as alter-ego Super XX Man. These touching, country-laced tunes recall the days when a singer earned another drink at the bar with his ability to spin a simple tale. Having recorded Volume IV entirely at home with guitars, ukulele, keyboards, and occasional help from friends, this 11-song album spotlights Garred's broad skills as both a producer and a songwriter, while his bold vocal harmonies and honest songs certainly earn him another night at the saloon. "I dreamt I was Super XX Man, flying over Texas. Armed with an acoustic guitar, ukulele, and some keyboards, I flew about rescuing old thoughts and feelings from despair. I sang a simple tune even though it might have been dressed up for the occasion. I looked down and saw old friends who didn't come around much anymore. I looked all around and saw that there was love in the air and lots of it. I stared down at the highway and wondered who's going my way? Super XX is an old black and white film made by Kodak. Around September 1995, the film was discontinued and, when a friend suggested that I do something with my old four-track recordings, my home recording project was born. That first cassette was primarily a documentation of packing up my college home in Pullman, Washington, and heading down a dusty trail to Austin, Texas. Another September passed, and another cassette emerged. Volume II holds songs about my first year or so in Texas, making new friends and missing my old ones. In 1997, Super XX Man left his cassette home and released a six-song seven-inch on Peek-a-Boo Industries, with more songs about the triumphs and subtleties of my new Texas life. Volume IV differs from my earlier tapes in some ways. The songwriting and instrumentation is of a more traditional nature, but the songs still share the intimacy and looseness created on earlier releases. Somewhere along the way I realized I was still in love with the music my parents made me listen to on those long drives in the family motor home, and I found myself embracing a style of music where performance and recording quality stands for something."
-Super XX Man, Austin, Texas |
