Scan Hopper

Mariana Bridges (Simplexity)

Seven tracks in 13 minutes, Scan Hopper’s latest EP – the quintet’s third release – is best consumed in one sitting. The experimental art-pop troupe re-posted the brief musical about a girl who “disappeared in a lightning flash,” the brainchild of singer/guitarist Scott Hopkins, on Bandcamp as one solitary track. Track gaps, quoth Hopkins, were “not what the artist intended.” Mariana Bridges settles between tranquil and disturbing, with segments like the repetitive guitar and vocal back-and-forth of “The Bridgeses” evoking an expansiveness and peace. “On Nonesuch Road” stomps that tranquility, employing a gang of wayward animals and creepy-sounding kids for a disturbing cacophony. It preceeds a sweeping whirlwind (“Twisted Air”) that spells trouble for Hopkins’ subject. Singer Rachael Shaw’s coda: “It’s just so strange inside my brain.”

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This article appears in April 25 • 2014.

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