The Scaramangas – All Is Good Now (2005)

Before university, I worked in a café in Helsinki city centre for about a year. During that time, I talked a lot about music with other employees there. We could play some of our own albums while working and the discussions went to music. One of my colleagues played keyboards in a band and I was interested to hear what kind of music they played. He invited me to one of their gigs. This band was The Scaramangas. I ended up buying their two first EPs from that gig. I really liked their original indie sound that was accompanied by melodica. Back in the day their music reminded me of The Coral that I had just gotten acquainted to at the time. After those couple of EPs I forgot about the band for a while, until a couple of years later I noticed this album at a music department of a department store in Helsinki and I bought it.



The band obviously gets its name from the Bond villain in the film Man With the Golden Gun. I thought it was a great name for a band. How they ended up choosing this name, I can't remember anymore.

All Is Good Now sounds a lot like many other indie bands of the mid-00's. I feel like the previous EPs that I had bought had a more unique sound in a way. It was more recognisable. So, when I bought this album, I didn't really listen to it that much. I did however also buy their subsequent album Don't Follow the Weak, which again sounded quite brilliant. So, in a way, this is the weakest album of The Scaramangas in my opinion, but it still doesn't mean that it wouldn't be a good album. It just doesn't sound quite as magical as the early EPs or the other album. The songs on this album are more straightforward guitar driven indie rock. There are some apparent Beatles influences in some of the songs and also some influences from indie bands of that time such as Franz Ferdinand.

The song Eight And a Half sounds like the apparent hit song from this album. The disco drumming and catchy chorus make sure that this will be the song you will remember from this album. The hippy and slightly psychedelic Sunday Morning is also worth mentioning. There are some apparent Beatles influences like guitar sounds that have been played backwards. Low Life also has some great keyboard tricks that are typical for the early 00's. It kind of reminds me of Grandaddy in places. Like a true 90's album, this CD has a hidden song after the last song.

This band is one of those numerous bands that I have listened to and own as physical records, where I know one or more of the band members. Especially in Helsinki, many of my friends played in bands and I'm lucky to have seen quite a few of them play live and release albums. For such a small city, Helsinki has a really vibrant music scene and I'm always proud to share my knowledge of these unknown Finnish bands here in London. I'm really proud of all of my friends who have made some excellent music for me to listen to. It's nice to be able to play some records and tell other people that I know these people. There's something special about that.

Listen to the album on Spotify.