Erland And The Carnival – Erland And The Carnival

Erland and the Carnival comprise folk guitarist and singer Gawain Erland Cooper, keen collaborationist Simon Tong (most recently seen in Albarn’s The Good, The Bad and The Queen, but also previously of The Verve) and, on drums,  David Nock (who himself has previously featured in a range of projects including The Orb and The Cult).The outfit is different to any of its members’ previous outings, however, and is a distinctive, pleasing, curio. This, their debut album, is the culmination of Erland Cooper’s study of old traditional English and Scottish folk songs, songs which the band have taken and reframed in settings that are (comparatively) contemporary.How the band are able to endow of these traditional songs with a fresh sense of urgency and drama is apparent right from the off ”“ and illustrated in opener ‘Love Is A Killing Thing’, which starts with near-imperceptible distant chants, the incantation gradually growing louder and closer, until the song bursts fully into life and into our speakers. ‘One Morning Fair’ has a similar edge of melodrama, this time lent by the repeated synth / voice, then guitar / keyboard patterns. Also immediately striking is the way that the vast majority of the songs featured sound like they would not have been out of place on Nuggets [the influential compilation featuring US Garage Rock bands from the mid- to late-sixties who were themselves influenced by UK groups from ’64 onwards]. Quite how a band of musicians in the second decade of the 2000s have taken a selection of old traditional folk songs and ballads and made them sound like releases from the British Invasion era of the 1960s I couldn’t say, but that is certainly what seems to have happened. From the excellent ‘My Name Is Carnival’ (from which the band took their name), to the psychedelic, almost baroque, ‘Trouble In Mind’, ‘The Sweeter The Girl, The Harder I Fall’ and ‘Gentle Gwen’, (the opening of which is what The Beatles circa ’62 might have sounded like doing a folk cover) the mood and feel is palpably swingin’.An agreeable and occasionally unsettling edge of oddness sometimes emerges in the range of synthesised sounds used; from the more expected (keyboard and organ) to the unusual (the opening of ‘Trouble In Mind’ which seems to be imitating the noise of a stalled car engine; the bursts of noise which burst through in the sultry, lust-drenched ballad ‘Disturbed This Morning’).Less appealing oddities also crop up courtesy of the lyrical content. Of course, with “traditional” songs, one can’t hold the band to account for this, but some of the words are pretty weak. Worst culprit is ‘The Derby Ram’, with its half-hearted repetitions ”“ “The Bishop said ‘I am horrified / By these people’s actions / I’m horrified’” and half-but-not-quite rhymes ”“ “The acting chief of the Mental Health / Said ‘I can’t condemn this strongly enough” contributing to a frustrating lack of clarity, exacerbated by a sense that the words are all the time being shoehorned in to rhythms and tunes for which they are not quite a proper fit. That this would appear to be a contemporary updating of the traditional song (the lyrics seem to be referencing a recent event, although it is not very clear what) just makes it all the more perplexing and frustrating.That said, the majority of the content on this arresting album is to be recommended. Among the strongest and most enjoyable tracks are the first four (‘Love Is A Killing Thing’, ‘My Name Is Carnival’, ‘You Don’t Have To Be Lonely’ with its propulsive, almost polka beat, and the assured, dramatic ‘Trouble In Mind’). ‘The Sweeter The Girl, The Harder I Fall’ also stands out, as does ‘Everything Came Too Easy’, with its additional (female) vocal and spaghetti western vibe. Despite its obvious historical influences and debts what somehow emerges is an album that is not only highly listenable but also remarkably original, with an atmosphere and mood all of its own.

Buy the album on Amazon | [itunes link="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/erland-the-carnival/id340453102?uo=4" title="Erland_The_Carnival" text="iTunes"]