Scott Collins is one half of the rock duo The Smoking Flowers (with his wife, Kim) and is also known as the slashing guitarist in soulful garage outfit Justin and The Cosmics (fronted by his brother, Justin). But after years of playing counterpoint in two of Nashville’s most feared (and beloved) bands, Collins has planted his flag on the moon with a long-awaited project entirely his own.
Collins’ debut album Purple Pain opens with the track “Killer Crush,” an attitude-laden mash note that spotlights his sultry vocals, bluesy guitar stabs, and a modern embrace of technology (synths, a drum machine credited as “Ace”). The following cut, “Love You More,” benefits from a warmer, more human approach with softer vocals, more subdued guitar and pulsating bass attributed to Taylor Rust.
“Shittin’ Tears” comes on with a certain level of menace (the use of drum machine recalls proto-punk band Suicide) and backwoods bluster that fans of The Gun Club and Jack White will dig while “A Matter of the Art” is quieter and more heartfelt. At this point in the album, a pattern emerges: the songwriter has two distinct sides, one feral and ornery and the other tamed and good-tempered.
“Kiss Like Me” opens with a whispered count-in and minimal guitar and keeps a measured pace throughout its four and a half minutes while “The Town Went Out On Us” focuses a critical eye on Collins’ hometown of Nashville and amps up the energy and attitude. “Silver Bullet” then comes on like a lamb (and may just be the best track on Purple Pain) leading the listener to the sweeping “Were We Never Friends” which features Scott’s warmest vocal along with acoustic guitar and subtle synths credited to the album’s engineer, Christopher Lord Byrd.
Purple Pain comes to a close with the album’s shortest track “Quitter,” a pure distillation of Collins’ many strengths; the song is, at once, noisy and subdued, sincere but maybe just a little bit guarded, solidly constructed but not overly-polished.
