As villagerrr, Mark Allen Scott’s patient songs are mesmerizing and unmistakably Midwestern. The prolific Ohio artist thrives on pinpointing quiet, mundane moments and imbuing them with disarming emotional clarity. His latest LP 'Tear Your Heart Out', his fourth album, is for long drives where the light shines through the sunroof, small-town get-togethers, and the times when you realize more about yourself and who you want in your life. Across 11 home-recorded songs of tasteful indie rock with understated twang, Scott solidifies himself as one of the most essential young songwriters, alongside peers he’s performed with like Merce Lemon, Greg Freeman, and Lily Seabird. It’s out on March 22 via Darling Recordings.
Scott is based in Columbus but was raised in Chillicothe, in southern Ohio alongside the Scioto River. It’s a rural town that felt small and stifling growing up but, for all its faults, now feels like home as Scott got older. “I want to wear where I'm from and my family on my sleeve,” says Scott. “I'm proud of the twangy influence in my music from corny country songs I'd hear on the bus rides to school. I feel like I’m reclaiming where I come from and making it my own.” He started villagerrr in early 2022 as a solo recording project and as a way to make music on his own terms by writing, recording, performing, and releasing everything himself.
2022 marked an exceptionally prolific period for Scott. He released three albums, 'Brain Pain', 'Ohioan', and 'Like Leaves' as well as an EP, 'Something or Somewhere Else'. All of these releases were quiet uploads on Bandcamp and streaming services, but as he started to perform these songs live they began to resonate beyond his circle. “After Like Leaves came out, we just started playing shows with a lot of bands that were inspiring me like Merce Lemon, feeble little horse, and Greg Freeman,” says Scott. “I just started writing more music immediately after these shows.” When he sent Lemon a new song he was working on called “Neverrr Everrr,” her enthusiastic response inspired him to push himself and grow as an artist.
“Immediately after these shows, I was writing more music,” says Scott. “I sent her “Neverrr Everrr” and she sang on it. That fired me up to hammer the rest of the songs out. Meeting artists who are a few steps ahead of you who are encouraging of your art is so validating.” Tear Your Heart Out opens with “Neverrr Everrr,” a warm song anchored by a gentle, shuffling beat. Scott and Lemon harmonize on the chorus, “Come and look at what you've done / Let me know when it's all done.” The track serves as the north star for the other ten songs both in how it is delicately arranged and how it deals predominantly with tenuous interpersonal dynamics. It’s an album about how people can hurt each other but also how we can forgive and move on.
The title track talks about a toxic figure who has “A broken ego with a bad temperament / He'll tear your heart out and you're living again.” It paints an uncompromising portrait of someone who needs to change but Scott extends grace to the situation. “Writing these songs has helped me look back on some of the events that inspired some of the songs to be easier on the people involved,” says Scott. “People are all pretty similar. We all make the same mistakes or if they're not the same, we all make mistakes and things are more complicated than they seem at the surface.” 'Tear Your Heart Out' is an album about relationships, friendship, and heartbreak and how you internalize and deal with the conflicts and pain happening in your life.
villagerrr is Scott’s solo outlet but it’s evolved into a much collaborative affair with a five-piece live band. “As far as this album goes, it's probably the most collaborative I've ever been,” says Scott. “I was looking for other people to help a little more because I feel like I've been doing stuff by myself for so long. It doesn't feel as rewarding when you do it alone.” He enlisted Teethe’s Boone Petrallo and his brother Dutch, alongside Scott’s touring band bassist Cam Garshon, drummer Zayn Dweik, and guitarists Ben Malicoat and Colton Hamilton to flesh out the recordings. “Zayn played a huge part in this record,” says Scott. “He helped me arrange "River Ain't Safe" specifically, but more generally, he’s helped me think about what the songs would sound like with a full band.” Tracks like “Barn Burnerrr” are subtly anthemic while “See” processes self-consciousness into catharsis with lines like, “Remind me / How did / we get here / It's funny but / I'll never see it.”
'Tear Your Heart Out' is the most assured and fully realized effort from Scott yet. It’s a new leap for an artist uncompromisingly doing things their way. “I've always felt a little bit like an outsider,” says Scott. “I wanted to convey the emotions and everything in a healthier way than I have in the past with recordings. It's hopeful, a little melancholic, but smoother around the edges.”
