STORY BY
14 July 2011
listen: nightingale
The second album by Erland & The Carnival takes listeners on a flight to the bowels of a shop on the Thames.
Erland & The Carnival combine their essentially folk rock leanings with a splash of psychedelic guitars and synthesizers that create the atmosphere of an acid trip at a deserted fun fair. An album considerably more crow-like than ‘Nightingale’ (and a strange bird indeed), there is an unshakable sinister undercurrent that is present throughout.
Erland & The Carnival combine their essentially folk rock leanings with a splash of psychedelic guitars and synthesizers that create the atmosphere of an acid trip at a deserted fun fair. An album considerably more crow-like than ‘Nightingale’ (and a strange bird indeed), there is an unshakable sinister undercurrent that is present throughout.
The subject matter is wildly eccentric – ranging from ‘We All Die’ (The Egyptian Book of the Dead) to ‘The Dream of the Rood’ (based on the Old English poem of the same name that is believed to be the oldest surviving poem in English) – so there is definite potential for this as an ice breaker at your next book club.
Things start sensibly enough with the rollicking garage rock inspired opener ‘So Tired In the Morning’ (“the saddest thing in life is to love and not be loved”) and the bouncy pop that is ‘Map of an Englishman’. All of a sudden we are thrust through the looking glass to the frantic, galloping ‘Emmeline’ that would not sound out of place at The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.
From here on in it is an adrenalin fueled ride as we chase and run through the ghoulish secret world that Erland & The Carnival has created for us. Springtime is a speed driven new age piece of Britpop that is as crisp and clear as any track on the album, with its thumping bass and backbeat dueling with the counter melodies of guitar and keyboard.
Full of the eccentricity that the name suggests, ‘Nightingale’ is a refreshing combination of classic folk with an indie psychedelic sensibility. The result is a record that has the ability to deliver some wonderful pure pop moments yet still retain an air of intrigue, depth and darkness.
