2011 Year-End Post III : Simon Scott : Bunny

Bunny has me thinking about exchanges, particularly the awkward ones. It is not an awkward record, but it is a wholly unique one, an alternate history in which the time and space of the latter twentieth century are mangled into a spirographic paradox. It is the kind of insanity that makes perfect sense, the answer to the question no one was asking. A vision this articulately warped could only come from a single being and that is what got me thinking about exchanges.



The people who offer their radical insights so freely are often marginalized. They are met with rolled eyes at best and complete disdain at worst. The artistic community is somewhat more open, but undoubtedly has its own parameters of expectation. So as the first bass notes of “AC Waters” are strummed, I’m sitting here contemplating the route one man’s handcrafted parallel universe takes to manifest itself in our collective reality and the steps along the way required to facilitate such a thing. What was it like when Scott’s wispy concrete-jazz-shoegaze creation was presented in the studio? When it was handed off to the label, sent off to mastering and mailed out on promo CDs? When each listener first dropped the needle or pulled it up in iTunes?



I can't imagine anyone who puts Bunny on for the first time saying to his or her self, “Oh yes, I was thinking the exact same thing.” It isn’t the perfect summation of anything. It is a collection of fragments that should not work together, but manage to regardless. They are lovingly constructed to resonate and illuminate each other in an undeniable manner as Scott himself plays the part of the superglue, tightly bonding the splintered shards. His personal investment provides the cohesion that makes the album so hard to resist and why it leaves most of these exchanges having thoroughly made its case.