The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir Issue #34

The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir (Bloodshot)

By Emily Becker
Published: December 1st, 2007 | 2:50pm

On The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, frontman Elia Einhorn assembles more than 50 musicians to execute his pleasingly orchestrated pop music for the Chicago-based collective’s second full-length. Chief among the contributors is Ellen O’Hayer, who plays cello and shares vocal duties with Einhorn.

Gospel Choir resembles the band’s 2003 debut full-length, I Bet You Say That to All the Boys. Einhorn refines his vocals on “Aspidistra,” a hooky track about misspent youth, which kicks off the album with the energy and cleverness of the Housemartins’ London 0 Hull 4. On “Obsessions,” Einhorn sings, “I’ve been hiding out at home whiting-out the Bible.” He may as well be penciling in, “There but for the grace of Tigermilk go I,” as he proudly wears his Belle & Sebastian allegiance, borrowing from Jeepster Records–era B&S on nearly every track. Einhorn patterns “This World Has No Place For Me” after Morrissey: “But this world it has no place for me / And I may as well just go jump in the sea and drown.” O’Hayer sings lead on the lush ballad “Everything You Paid For,” which closes the record with a tinge of optimism.

Despite a lack of originality, Einhorn and company still create songs that are earnest, profuse in detail, and touched with the blackest of humor.