Erland & The Carnival are excellent for a few reasons. Not only do they like goats in suits (check out the cover art below) and have, in Erland Cooper, a lead singer from the Orkney Islands, but they make messed-up versions of old folk songs, from Victorian to Leonard Cohen.
I especially like Trouble in Mind. It’s full of fuzzy, distorted feedback and flinty guitars. It has the kind of incessant beat that makes you tap the nearest thing with your hand – thigh, escalator, desk. It has a myriad structure. And it has a section of la-la-la-ing, which automatically makes any song good (according to Some Of It Was True!’s rules of music, #24).
Was You Ever See – an old Victorian tune about railways - is equally great, and not just because I admire it’s atrocious grammar. There’s something that sounds like an organ anchoring things with a jaunty hook, and real pleasure to be had in hearing Erland’s broad voice sing cutesy folky lyrics about John, Jane and Betsy eating bugs, dancing jigs and drinking Pepsi. My Name is Carnival, meanwhile, is a burly Jackson C. Frank cover with a hint of Nick Cave or Clint Boon via its gothic chorus.
If you fancy seeing Erland and his five helpers (notably including ex-The Verve & Blur guitarist Simon Tong and ex-The Orb drummer David Nock), then good news - there are a few opportunities coming up. First off, they play the Luminaire on Mon 18 January (details). Then it’s the Old Blue Last on Thurs 18 February and finally a slot supporting the magnificent Tunng at the Relentless Garage (Thurs 25 March, tickets). See you there – I’ll be the one la-la-la-ing along and sipping Pepsi.
MySpace | Website | Buy | MP3: Erland & The Carnival – My Name Is Carnival