With the release of “Smart Tart,” Charming Scars brings more than just hooks and attitude. The band brings a rare musical attitude. Now streaming, the track is a defiant and slick rejoinder demonstrating that punks don’t need to play stupid to get a heavy punch.
“Smart Tart” thrums with an alternative punk and infectious energy, gutsy and raw with the live drum takes that avoid the embalmed sterility of today’s sample-heavy rock. But when you listen more closely, the song becomes more complex. We’re not talking about your run-of-the-mill verse-chorus-verse song. The composition is ingeniously progressive, sweeping through sections that alter in chord progression, rhythm, and timbre but never lose sight of the whole.
The layout sounds like a playbook for technical songwriting. “Smart Tart” intro, verse one, chorus, verse two, fresh progression, chorus, transition, and then verse three with another new shift, second transition, final chorus, and an outro. But this sequence of events helps the listener never feel lost, just locked in. It’s controlled chaos but shown with finesse.
What makes the song work is the voice taking us on the journey. And the voice of the lead singer comes through in a wonderfully organic way. You won’t find any vocoding equivalence here except for some raw, honest delivery that perfectly suits the band’s no-frills aesthetic. There’s an openness to that authenticity, reaching deeper than any distortion pedal could.