Pajo – Scream With Me (2009) [Black Tent] // Grade: B

If you’re anything like me you’ve probably listened to every Glen Danzig era Misfits tune about a thousand times over to the point where you love them, but you just don’t need to ever hear them ever again… OK, well not ever again. Enter David Pajo of Slint and Tortoise fame. Scream WIth Me is Pajo’s 3rd solo album under his own name and composed entirely of Misfits covers done like you’ve never heard them before.

10 Misfit classics are stripped down to their essences and re-recorded as soft haunting acoustic ballads. Pajo’s hushed voice crooning Danzig’s lyrics over nothing but a guitar plucking and tape hiss is not only beyond creepy but also add a whole new dimension to these already amazing songs. Pajo perfectly captures the essence of each track while completely reinventing it; It’s really quite something to behold… especially if you’re a fan of the Misfits and/or Lo-Fi Folk. My main complaint with Scream With Me is Pajo’s lack of diversity in how Pajo arranges and performs each track. As stand-alone covers they’re great and refreshing, but 9 strung back to back to back don’t offer enough variety the material offered itself to. Regradless, If nothing else, Scream With Me prove what we’ve always known… That these songs were always much more than simple 3-chord anthems.

- My Pal the Crook