Scarlett's Roses - Lost

Read my review of Roll On Rio here
Read my interview with Scarlett's Roses Scarly, Dan & Ryan here

Thanks to amazing pop-meets-everything group Scarlett's Roses, 2014 has been an education for me. Here is what I have learned so far...

• I now know what an Otter is thanks to Matt Lucas (of Little Britain fame) christening Ryan Roses as such. That beard did look damned good...
• Football songs such as Roll on Rio can help me join in the office banter and make me a bit more blokey (see also World in Motion and 3 Lions)
• Football songs such as Roll on Rio can have a life beyond football (I played the incessantly catchy gem way into Autumn and look forward to a slightly revised version soundtracking the 2016 Olympics)...
• When performing live they can turn a disinterested crowd into a booty popping, chorus chanting army of devoted fans (Birmingham Pride 2014 - "I'm off to see Scarlett's Roses, they always make the sun shine")
• Talking of hot bearded dudes (see first bullet point), Will looked all sorts of Ryan Gosling fit when he got all hairy on the chinny chin chin & suited/booted himself up...
• Dan isn't just a kick arse guitar player - he lights up the silver screen too thanks to his parts in Call The Midwife and upcoming movie Fraternity...
• The entire extended Scarlett's Roses family know how to throw a party, especially if that party is fancy dress & looks like it was more intriguing than an entire episode of Once Upon A Time (Hook, Pretty Woman, Edward Scissorhands, Clark Kent et al all made appearances)
• And finally, I'm probably more dude crazy than I thought because I also noticed that Ollie had a cracking set of abs that you turn cabbage to coleslaw on!

All this is not particularly essential to the fact that the band have sneaked an unreleased recording onto the interweb thingy. Entitled Lost, like the list above, it's a fascinating insight into the band and how they are one of the most creative, energetic forces of nature in the pop market at the moment. Yes, even including the return of S Club 7. Lost tells the tale of how the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence, how some relationships are worth the struggle because they have such dynamite potential - yet all too often the world conspires against these perfect couplings and things fall apart & are 'lost'. It is further evidentiary proof that the group are always on point when it comes to lyrical content that everyone can relate to - and the delivery from Scarlett, Ryan and even a singing Ollie gives the song different facets of personality traits more gripping than a season of Revenge. The acoustic opening (just Scarlett and a strumming guitar with a few chimes thrown in for good measure) allows for a sense of wistful melancholy before a bubbling bouyant & bouncy ska infused beat drops to keep things from being too gloomy. Ryan's vocals come in and there's a definite sense of hurt and betrayal, alongside disappointed bewilderment at the actions of the errant lover in question. The lyrics feel like some of their most personal to date and these serve to make the band even more accessible than before (you sort of want to give them a hug and not just to cop a feel)! Like many a great heartbreak anthem though, there's a sense of optimism & hope within the soaring chorus that gives the listener the sense that they'll be a-ok in the end, that singing through the pain is an excellent prescription and anti-dote for the blues. While the refrain of "we could have had it all but we lost it (baby)" has a sense of sadness about it, it also serves as a damning indictment to the fool who dumped this crew & threw away all the marvelous possibilities for something that probably won't linger as long as his/her smell on the bedsheets of whoever came next! It's more empowering than you might initially think and grooving along to the sumptuous sax and groovetastic rhythms is better than any endorphin rush to the brain. Oh Scarlett's Roses you've done it again. How I adore you all.