Monday, December 5, 2011

Erland and the Carnival Have Trouble In Mind


Erland is Erland Cooper, guitarist singer and former resident of the remote British Isle of Orkney. The Carnival are guitarist Simon Tong (The Verve, Blur...sorta, Gorillaz) and drummer David Nock. together the three of them form Erland and the Carnival and as a team they create sweeping pop music that would have sound perfect on your dad's AM car stereo. Their four song EP, Trouble In Mind, is a long time overdue here in the States, as their album came out in January overseas. Finally getting our first taste of the tunes these three are capable of, you can't help but scream at the top of your lungs..."Give us the whole album NOW." This is trad folk mixed with elements of Divine Comedy like drama, psychedelic flourishes, and songs that are so far outstretched from what the members of the Carnival normally play that you'll be left in awe.

The four songs that make up Trouble In Mind is like listening to the best Coral record never released. It's jumpy neurotic psychedelic folk that's so ridonkulously catchy and so sweepingly dramatic in all the best ways that it's simply impossible to dislike. This is a record where you imagine the musicians dressed in hounds tooth blazers with turtlenecks in a brightly lit constantly changing set where go-go dancers prowl everywhere. Trouble In Mind is fantastic stuff and the fact that it's made by three people from three completely different musical backgrounds is truly amazing. Listening to Erland and the Carnival, you'd swear these guys had been making records this good since 1975 but truth is they've just come together within a year or so and put this all together. Trouble In Mind is bewitching mesmerizing pop that both you and your parents would enjoy. It's rock and roll in the most un-rock and roll way possible and it's trippy while being completely accessible. Trouble In Mind is easily one of the best singles of the year and probably 1974 as well. Awesome.

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