MP3 of the Moment #144: Erland and the Carnival
Erland and the Carnival was founded by folk singer/guitarist Erland Cooper and multi-instrumentalist Simon Tong (Verve, Blur). They met when Cooper approached Tong, who was running a folk night on London’s Portobello Road, and they got to talking about their favourite music.
A shared love of the work of American folk musician Jackson C. Frank cemented their friendship. In fact, it was a song by Frank called ‘My Name is Carnival’ that figured into the band’s moniker. Below is the band’s cover of the song. I was struck by the booming intro reminiscent of Cream’s ‘White Room’, quickly dissipating into a folky, jammy, swirling dervish of a track.
MP3: Erland and the Carnival – My Name is Carnival
[audio:http://theregoesthefear.com/media/201002/02_My_Name_Is_Carnival.mp3]If you listen to Steve Lamacq’s late night new music programme on Radio2 Wednesday nights, you may have already heard their track ‘Trouble in Mind’, recalling folky, psychedelic-tinged Moody Blues or Byrds. Tong has described their music as “Pentangle meets Ennio Morricone meets Love meets 13th Floor Elevators meets Joe Meek.” Agree? Let us know.
Erland and the Carnival’s eponymous debut album was released on 25 January and is available now for purchase from Full Time Hobby.
2 Responses
1st February 2010
thanks for the tip, amazing band
8th February 2010
good stuff man