Continuing their mission of creating spiritually uplifting pop music,
Scream of the Crop is several notches above the band's previous
Live at Wetlands release. This is mostly due to the fact that, in the studio, the band can rely more on the interplay of their gentle acoustic guitars and less on the flashy guitar pyrotechnics that they fall back on in concert. The music is the band's usual mix of optimistic '60s folk-rock crossed with the strained anthemia of what the genre became when placed in arenas in the '70s. What differentiates
Soulfarm is their occasional emphasis on Middle Eastern-sounding scales, which is no surprise given guitarist
C. Lanzbom's years as a leading session guitarist in Israel. When the band lets this guide, as on "Intro" or "The Ride" (where it provides the hook), they are at their most successful. Otherwise, they tend to fall back on cliché chord progressions and lyrics, like the power-ballady, lighter-waving "Something Special." Of note also is "From This Day On," a collaboration with Jane's Addiction and
Porno for Pyros founder
Perry Farrell. Though failing to ignite, the track does effectively fuse Farrell's style with
Soulfarm's. ~ Jesse Jarnow