Scale Model are transplants to Nashville from Chicago. This indie rock/pop outfit combines complex instrumental structure with unique, catchy vocal melodies to create a sound that transcends the staples of pop. Drawing influences from 80s brit pop/new wave bands such as The Cure and The Smiths, The Cars, as well as Sonic Youth and MGMT, Interpol, the band utilizes counter-pointing guitars, & catchy melodies to create music that is both energetic and dynamic.
Songs available for download on iTunes.
Merry Go Round - live @ Beat Kitchen, Chicago, IL
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Enjoy The Silence - live @ The Red and Black, Washington D.C.
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Press:from Smile Politely (Champaign/Urbana, IL):
Not producing clever sounds via technical fakery puts the onus for catchiness squarely on the musical composition. Unlike those darned kids of the current era, the members of Scale Model learned to play their instruments first, and then decided to be in a band.
-- Rob McColley
from The Chicago Reader:
Between its chipper music and its chipper online bio, this local pop quartet is so innocently exuberant you could take it home to mother. And then mom would say, "Back in my day, rock 'n' roll bands used to be surly and do drugs and break stuff. You kids today have no pride." But Scale Model's shiny, happy sound on their third EP, the self-released Humdrum, is interestingly brittle--the perkiness always seems to threaten to fall apart.
--Monica Kendrick
from The Illinois Entertainer:
The female-fronted outfit continues to impress throughout the icy rhythmic labyrinth of "Merry Go Round" and the chill-out dance popper "Fourteen." Yet the real reason to listen is an unconventional cover of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy The Silence," which trades in the tunes' goth undertones for velocitized guitars.
-– Andy Argyrakis
from Neufutur:
The band is able to create a specific sound that individuals will be able to determine is purely Scale Model's. The songs should be on alternative radio this second. While the band is not exploiting current trends in alternative music, the classic nature of these tracks, pushing on acts like Sarah McLachlan, The Cranberries, and the like should bring fans both young and old to the band's flock.
-- James McQuiston
from Kinky Origami (show review):
It seems like we've been having a decent influx of good indie-rock acts here in Morgantown. One of the openers was Scale Model; not-so-surprisingly an indie rock outfit from Chicago.
Scale Model is great because I can't really find a song I dislike. The songs are fast tempo, droney, melodic tunes. I wouldn't quite call it chill music as I would mellow rock. The female lead doesn't distract from the songs at all, but rather blends in quite well with the smooth mixture of bass and rhythm guitar.
from NPR's "All Songs Considered":
Coming together as Scale Model, the quartet plays searing indie rock that strongly references their biggest influences, including Sunny Day Real Estate and Interpol. Using counter-pointed guitars and syncopated rhythm techniques, Scale Model creates music that is both energetic and dynamic. They rely heavily on catchy vocals and strive to break free from tried and true techniques of pop song creation.
from The Big Takeover:
This Chicago foursome's sensuous, shimmering, and well-crafted indie-pop is sort of a cross between later-period Downey Mildew and Antietam's more recent stuff. The latter comparison is particularly apt, considering how well they can blend agression with delicacy (as on the opening "P.S."), and for the strong resemblance of vocalist Megan Rox to Antietam's Tara Key. When you hear her gorgeous vocals floating above the ethereal, buoyant music in the oh-so-nice "Something Changed," you sense a star in the making.
-- Mark Suppanz
from Left Off The Dial:
What you think of Scale Model may well depend upon how you react to chilly Rox.but if you're looking for icy cool, Scale Model has got it – and in cubes.
-- Dan MacIntosh
from Splendid Magazine:
"Scale Model is in the midst of a humble beginning -- a self-titled, self-released EP and a slowly-growing resume of successful performances -- but if their fledgling material is any indication, their potential is vast. With a mere three tracks, the band's debut EP only begins to suggest what the band is about; here, the emphasis is on songwriting and execution. Even at this early juncture, Scale Model's musical talent is noticeable. Their playing is clean and restrained, their melodies expertly constructed, and with a style not far removed from that of Sunny Day Real Estate, the appeal is immediate.
-- Melissa Amos
