Injecting a dose of delightful incongruity into the monotonous rhythm of the music scene, tunesmith extraordinaire Andrew Rinehart is weaving magic with Charm School, conceived in partnership with his talented musical conspirators, Matt Filip, Drew English, and Jason Bemis Lawrence. The troupe is poised to unfurl their latest sound-wave creation and accompanying video, “The Year of the Scorpion.”
The lines of “The Year of The Scorpion” probe into an intricate narrative of a liaison steeped in falsehood and treachery. The speaker is enamored with a tantalizing figure, attracted by an identity that hinted at more allure than the truth it concealed. A subtle insinuation towards a turbulent romance is rife with recklessness and laced with remnants of deceit or remorse. The main character is entrapped by a deceiving accomplice who, despite claiming integrity, thrives on manipulation. This manipulative figure haunts his dreams, persisting as a recurrent echo, a repeated melody in the symphony of his existence. Regardless of the disillusionment, there’s still a glimmer of hope for this cunning persona, that she hasn’t irrevocably fallen prey to the deceit and manipulation. Yet, the understanding that the past is immutable pervades the narrative – whether one remains static or rushes ahead, the actions of the past are unchangeable.
The recurring motif of the scorpion year and the concluding thought convey a resignation towards inherent characteristics. The actions of a scorpion are as inexorable as its essence, an analogy that people, too, are bound to behave according to their core nature. The narrative simultaneously mourns and accepts the dual facets of love and deceit, in a tango as complex and lethal as the scorpion’s dance.
This acerbic tale is illustrated with a ferocious performance video, monochome and stark as the sentiments within, directed by Andrew Sellers. Watch below – but beware the sting!
“I culled the title from the famous parable of The Frog and The Scorpion, an animal fable which teaches that vicious people cannot resist hurting others even when it is not in their own interests,” Rinehart explains. In the story, a scorpion wants to cross a river but cannot swim, so it asks a frog to carry it across. The frog hesitates, afraid that the scorpion might sting it, but the scorpion promises not to, pointing out that it would drown if it killed the frog in the middle of the river. The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. Midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog anyway, dooming them both. The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t resist the urge. It’s in my nature.”
Orson Welles famously told a version of the parable in the 1955 film Mr. Akradin:
This single, “Year of the Scorpion,” is a tantalising foreshadowing of Charm School’s much-anticipated inaugural EP, “Finite Jest,” set to splash its melodies into the world on July 21st.
Originally from Louisville, Rinehart has paid his dues in both the NYC and LA DIY music scenes, co-founding The Body Actualized Center in Bushwick and booking shows at Basic Flowers in Downtown LA. Charm School represents a return to his punk and hardcore roots, to the kind of music that shaped his musical consciousness as a teenager. Known for his artisanal touch to folk melodies, especially spotlighted in his melodious discourse with Bonnie “Prince” Billy, he is guiding Charm School through the labyrinth of the unheard and unseen. Their fresh sonic voyage embarks into the raw, untamed echoes of punk and hardcore, spinning vibrant threads of sonorous energy into the group’s harmonic blueprint…a little bit of Sonic Youth, a little bit PIL, a little Fugazi.
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