With No Way Out

Scout Gillett “444 Marcy Ave.”

“444 Marcy Ave” moves between two very ‘90s modes, starting with a stark and intimate strummed section that sounds a lot like PJ Harvey at the start of that decade or Cat Power at the end of it, but then shifting into a groove that’s more like Tori Amos after she got very into making Matt Chamberlin do live drum parts that sound like filtered loops. Scout Gillett, who is not to be confused with the similarly named Scout Niblett but probably will be, sings with a slightly ghostly affect that emphasizes her lowest and highest notes without much space between. The song sounds like a very dark and sordid place, though I can say as a Brooklyn resident this address is just some apartment building in South Williamsburg. She makes it feel more like some bleak abandoned shack in the middle of nowhere, but I might just be getting that from the subtle banjo counterpoint with the groove.

Buy it from Bandcamp.