Record Review: Walter Schreifels - An Open Letter To The Scene
Written by Steven McKay   
Sunday, 11 April 2010 12:00
If you follow the alternative music scene, chances are you've already heard of Walter Schreifels. Whether it's through his work with hardcore bands Youth Of Today and Gorilla Biscuits, with post-hardcore band Quicksand, or whether it was during the early 2000's, with Rival Schools, he has been a constant in the New York hardcore/post-hardcore scene for the best part of the last twenty years.

It will likely come as no small surprise to learn then, that his first solo album, An Open Letter To The Scene, is not only somewhat of a departure from his roots, but is also a folk album.  Whilst this may seem like an odd choice at first, it becomes apparent after the first listen what an obvious choice this was, as An Open Letter To The Scene is an intensely personal, honest, and self-reflective record.

The album, comprised of material written and performed on his acoustic sets over the last couple of years, covers a lot of ground; sometimes it's political in nature, such as his bare-bones covers of Agnostic Front's “Society Suckers”, or CIV's “Don't Gotta Prove It”, whilst at times it's playful and fun, such as on the track “The Ballad Of Lil' Kim”. The album is most impressive though, when Walter is at his most introspective, and tracks like “Shootout”, and “Wild Pandas” are the high points of the album. This is especially true of title track “An Open Letter To The Scene”, which is achingly beautiful in its brutal sincerity, and is the natural choice for the closer to the album.

An Open Letter To The Scene isn't a perfect album by any means, though that isn't the point of it; you get the feeling it was never meant to be perfect, but rather a simple and honest reflection on life, love, and past actions. This is a sentiment which is echoed throughout the album, either by the stripped-down instrumentation, or by Walter's occasionally flawed voice. The result of this, is a simple, beautiful and honest album, which will leave you thinking about it long after the album has finished.

An Open Letter To The Scene releases on May 4th on Academy Fight Song Records in the US, and on May 10th on Big Scary Monster Records in the UK

To check out some of his music, visit Walter's Myspace page here, or check out the video for "Wild Pandas" below (courtesy of Beatcast.tv)

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