Tag: S.C.A.B.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: S.C.A.B. Shares Yearning and Nostalgic “LOVE”

Ridgewood, Queens-based indie band and JOVM mainstays S.C.A.B — currently Sean Carmago (vocals, guitar), Cory Best (guitar, backing vocals), Alec Alabado (bass, backing vocals), Evan Eubanks (drums, percussion), Jordan Rich (synth, piano, production) and Sean Brennan (cello) — will be releasing their third album, Somebody In New York Loves You! through Grind Select on November 21, 2025.

The soon-to-be released third album reportedly sees the Ridgewood-based band simultaneously turning inward and stretching wide with the album’s material leaning into vulnerability without retreating into abstraction, drawing from Carmago’s psychedelic-fueled realizations, intimate journal entries and moments of raw emotional rupture.

Much of the album’s material was written in a creative sure following a psychic reading that left Carmago feeling oddly affirmed and fantastical. And as a result, a sense of magical realism and sepia-tinged nostalgia is at the core of the album. At times, the band sounds like huge, like an arena rock band and others, eerily close, like a voice memo you weren’t meant to hear.

With Somebody In New York Loves You!, the Ridgewood-based outfit makes space for contradictions: songs that are personal but big, naive but knowing, imaginative but grounded. After a stretch of false starts, rain-soaked gigs and artistic doubt, the band emerges sounding both clear-headed and ready — while reminding the listener that yes, somebody here in this town does love you.

“LOVE,” Somebody In New York Loves You!‘s third and latest single is a mid-tempo 120 Minutes-era MTV-like sigh of gratitude anchored around shimmering guitars, Carmago’s expressive delivery and the band’s unerring knack for big, shout along worthy hooks and choruses. It’s arguably one of the more direct songs of the soon-to-be released album and of the band’s growing catalog, expressing gratitude for the complicated and odd place New York is, to family — whether biological or chosen, to being unafraid of finding a way to pick yourself up and start over.

“This song is a reminder to myself to get clearer on what I would like to see,” S.C.A.B.’s Sean Carmago says. “The roles we play. The illusion of truth. I had a tiny blue bird when I was young. You had a love, it hurt, now it’s done. Blood is your teacher now. Let go of duality.”

Directed by Sampson Dahl, the accompanying video was shot in his laundromat space on beta film and evokes a warm, nostalgia for Pee Wee’s Playhouse and Gumby with the video being fantastical yet grounded in mundanity and handmade in a way in which you can see the stitching, seams and glue, but done so with a playful, knowing charm.

The Ridgewood-based band will be playing a record release show at 94 Bogart next week.  

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: S.C.A.B. Shares Expansive and Brooding “Caught My Eye”

Led by Sean Carmago (vocals guitar), Queens-based indie outfit S.C.A.B. — currently Carmago, Cory Best (guitar, backing vocals), Alec Alabado (bass, backing vocals), Evan Eubanks (drums, percussion), Jordan Rich (synth, piano, production) and Sean Brennan (cello) — will be releasing their first batch of new material in two years with the October 25, 2024 release of the five-song Rose Colored Glasses EP. 

Carmago’s lyrics see him searching for distortions and distractions from the truth, and the interplay between truth and love. And over the pat give years, the band’s work has slowly developed to reflect a worldview created from an awareness of the interplay between truth, love and illusion — and the great comedy of it all. The new EP thematically focuses on love, the uneasy nature of reality, depression, songwriting and being severely, acutely alive.

Last month, I wrote about “IDK New Reality,” a woozy,  120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock-like track track anchored around jangling and distorted guitars, a driving groove paired with rousingly anthemic hooks and Carmago’s earnest croon. 

The EP’s latest single “Caught My Eye” sees the Queens-based outfit crafting a song that synthesizes elements of shoegaze,  120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock, post punk and post-punk and contemporary pop and trap glitch anchored around Carmago’s earnest croon and the band’s penchant for remarkably catchy hooks.

The band’s Carmago offers some reference points for the new single: “Noticing your own wandering eye. Exploring shame. Asking for a lot with little in return. Sharing a song with you. Non-monogamy. Fear of being seen. Thinking about someone else. FaceTime. Unemployment.”
 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: S.C.A.B. Shares a Rousingly Anthemic Rocker

Led by Sean Carmago (vocals guitar), Queens-based indie outfit S.C.A.B. — currently Carmago, Cory Best (guitar, backing vocals), Alec Alabado (bass, backing vocals), Evan Eubanks (drums, percussion), Jordan Rich (synth, piano, production) and Sean Brennan (cello) — will be releasing their first batch of new material in two years with the October 25, 2024 release of the five-song Rose Colored Glasses EP.

Carmago’s lyrics see him searching for distortions and distractions from the truth, and the interplay between truth and love. And over the pat give years, the band’s work has slowly developed to reflect a worldview created from an awareness of the interplay between truth, love and illusion — and the great comedy of it all. The new EP thematically focuses on love, the uneasy nature of reality, depression, songwriting and being severely, acutely alive.

Rose Colored Glasses EP‘s latest single “IDK New Reality” is a woozy, 120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock-like track track anchored around jangling and distorted guitars, a driving groove paired with rousingly anthemic hooks and Carmago’s earnest croon.

Frontman Sean Camargo offers some points of reference for the track “Losing grip on reality. Clinging to identity. A large crucifix in Bolivia guarded by the police. Sexuality. Don’t forget about me. Dancing in the rain. Accepting the present moment as it is.”