For some, home is a place. For others, it’s an idea. For Scout Gillett, it’s a nebulous concept with constantly changing definitions. It’s no wonder the New Yorker can’t quite get to grips with it—she’s displayed an adventurous spirit all her life, cutting her teeth in the Kansas City punk scene before departing for Brooklyn. It’s there that she’s made her base, at least for now. Gillett’s reaction to returning home to her native Missouri led to her digging deep into what made a place feel like home—“Nothing was as I’d remembered,” she recalled. “I felt homesick for a home that no longer seemed to exist”—sowing the seeds for what would become her debut album.
The single “One To Ten” and a subsequent EP of the same name, “No Roof No Floor” is a remarkable record full of hushed intimacy that creates its own unique type of intensity, Gillett’s voice able to turn on a dime from a whisper to a soaring, cathartic belt. It’s an album of many shades, autumnal enough in spots that an October release makes perfect sense. She’s arrived as close to fully-formed as it’s possible to get, updating early singles “Mother Of Myself” and “Signal” to fit into the 10-track record’s more expansive vision.
She’s been involved in music for longer than you’d think; the groundwork for Gillett’s solo endeavors was laid back in 2016 with the “Scout & the Snaggles” solo EP, referenced below, but it feels like she’s just getting started. “No Roof No Floor” is the kind of album you’ll regret missing out on, so make time for it the first chance you get.
Released on Captured Tracks
The Fat Angel Sings 