I am both in the denial and bargaining stages of grief over J Waylon’s announcement that he will wrap up his Doomed Babe Series after installment 50. Making his latest (#48) a full length (in our dimension, ten songs in 18 minutes counts as an album) definitely helps the process. The record arrives with a quote by Elizabeth Hardwick that essentially summarizes the whole series:

“There are only two reasons to write: desperation or revenge.”

And like what came before, Soul Scouts has that strange mix of devotion and bitterness, jealousy, and resentment. But perhaps I am seeing things through the lens of the approaching end, J Waylon sounds particularly weary and wounded here, on a record that is as catchy in melody as it is raw in emotion. “I’d rather starve than share a crumb of your affection,” he hollers in A Sonnet For Lee Lazy Horse, a bittersweet garage power pop punk classic. The sentiments may be universal and all too familiar, but few musicians manage to pour so many great tunes out of them, let alone sound this passionate and inspired. Think of those long-running TV shows that somehow hit a late creative peak seasons in, the ones that stay sharp while others fade into autopilot. Soul Scouts has that kind of energy, like a series finding a second or third wind when it could easily coast.

There is plenty of bite on Soul Scouts. This definitely sits on the punky power pop end of the FOCR spectrum, but the melodies reign supreme as always. The second half is particularly sticky, with Nurse Midwife Crisis, Tassels and Bitter But Better stacking up like a run of back-to-back hits.

I am not anywhere near the acceptance stage. But if the end really is coming into view, this feels like the kind of late-series highlight that reminds you exactly why you got hooked in the first place.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp