SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: STILL EIGHTEEN – SCARRED

STILL EIGHTEEN
SCARRED
INDEPENDENT

Still Eighteen is a family band, consisting of Mom, Dad, and their daughter. To be clear, they are not anything like the Trapp Family, but instead, a powerhouse trio who write and produce very emotional and honest music. For Still Eighteen, lyrics and music both matter a great deal, and they have stories and feelings to get across, and they do it very effectively. Joey, Karen and their daughter Samanthadaddya (the Ciotti family), make a wonderful combination and this new EP, Scarred, demonstrates in three songs just how much this band has grown in a very short time. Scarred is a follow-up to their debut album released in 2024.

All three tracks on this EP are very different and demonstrate very different aspects of the trio. “Daddy” channels Sylvia Plath’s poem of the same name, but while Plath’s father is deceased and unable to hear her, with “Daddy”, the anger, frustration, and sadness is expressed to someone who can listen. But ‘Daddy’ is more than just one father, and with the song, “Daddy,” societal norms and governments (i.e. alleged father figures) are questioned and taken to task. This is all done with a driving energy that grinds away into the soul of the listeners.

“I Want Someone Like You”, on the other hand, is a straightforward, yearning love song. It is a power ballad and is very different from, say, “Daddy.” “I Want Someone Like You” is an interesting song, with plaintive lyrics and beautiful imagery captured throughout the song. The EP ends with the angry “The Fire’s Still Burning,” a song that is based on an historic event, where prisoners died during a prison fire. The song is a rocking protest song, much like Neil Young’s “Rocking In The Free World”. It is a hard rock song that ends with the title of the song. “There’s 120 dead, and the fire’s still burning.”

There is a lot on this short EP, and Still Eighteen has a great deal to say. Scarred features very heartfelt and powerful songs that make for fascinating and brilliant listening. All three tracks are strong, and the trio form a very tight band. With Dad Joey and daughter Samantha sharing lead vocals, this Toronto trio has come up with a brilliant follow-up to their self-titled debut album. Scarred is the type of record where, as it ends, one wants to start the whole thing over again, and repeated listening to the songs yield new and even richer rewards. Scarred is a brilliant EP.

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