Thai power-pop and rock group Scrubb highlight their softer side on the brilliant ‘Best of’ album.

Thai indie band Scrubb is surprisingly popular in Thailand. I say ‘surprising’ because vocalist Muey Thawachpol Wongboonsiri and guitarist Ball Torpong Chantabuppha are scruffy, laid-back musicians who play Beatlesque tunes with thoughtful lyrics. There’s not a hint of rock star glamor on them as opposed to the other, more colorful acts in the Thai music scene; although the crowded venues during live shows might say otherwise. I picked up their latest album, Chood Lek (Little Collection) on a whim and mostly because of the cover, which had an indie and consciously environmental feel to it. I didn’t realize that it was a ‘Best of’ album then, so I was bowled over when I played it: all tracks were exceptionally catchy. Up to this day, there’s not one track that I skip.


Album opener and first single off the album ‘Ter mhoon rorb chun chun mhoon rorb ter’ (เธอหมุนรอบฉัน ฉันหมุนรอบเธอ/You Revolve Around Me, I Revolve Around You) is melodically a more pensive ‘Yellow Submarine’ with a cheerful marching beat. The tinkling piano and the lilting pa-pa-pas complete the gentle wonder that the song evokes. ‘Pleng khong rao’ (เพลงของเรา/Our Song) ups the hooks but this time around, Muey sings with knee-buckling tenderness, and

rightfully so since this is his own ode to songwriting. The song’s easy calm, clean lead guitars, and delicately soaring chorus is more definitive of Scrubb’s music.

‘Glai’ (ใกล้/Near) begins with a riff that tiptoes playfully before launching into a wonderfully careless, moving chorus. Think Brit-folk duo Turin Brakes with a hint of indie Norwegian band Kings of Convenience’s atmospheric stillness - as the track ‘Art Bar’ shows. The sparkling electronic flourishes and the deliberately meandering melody come together like an afterglow of a dream: the dream is heavy but the buoyancy is tangible.

I officially completed their discography a month ago and it seems like they have re-recorded, or at least remastered most of their songs for the ‘Best of’ album. However, it feels like the older songs in Chood Lek have a warmer, more acoustic flavor to them compared to the less potent production of the early albums.

The album is irrevocably the best introduction to this Thai indie band’s music, and I could go on and on about the merits of each song. There’s also cohesiveness to this collection that I find absent in most ‘Best of’ records, as the songs, though written years apart, have a fluid affinity to the others. Even if the styles range from bossanova to folk rock to dreamy pop, Scrubb pins them down with a relaxed and breezy melodic sensibility. They’re so charmingly easy on the ears, everyday feels like Sunday.

Rating: 4.5/5

- Thor Balanon

Link: http://www.scrubbband.net/