Erland And The Carnival / 6th May 2010

Jackorange added this 2 years ago

Some history: Erland grew up on the Orkney Islands, where passing musicians and troubadors were a common sight. In his early teens, The Verve and Bert Jansch inspired him to swap the fiddle for the guitar. Later, having moved to London, Erland sang at Tong’s What The Folk club night in Portobello Road, where he was introduced to the former Verve man by the producer Youth. “It wasn’t a regular folk night where people are quiet and stroke their chin,” says Tong. “It was a more raucous affair where the acts – as many as 15 a night – had to quieten a noisy baying audience by being good. Erland definitely got people to shut up and listen.”

Resolving to form a band, Nock, Tong and Cooper took their name from Jackson C Frank’s My Name Is Carnival, a cover of which appears on the album. The band’s progression since has been fairly unorthodox: they’ve played gigs at miniature railway stations and their debut EP was individually re-recorded for each of its limited run, meaning no two copies are the same. All the while, they’ve been developing that bewitching sound.

Going form strength to strength, Erland and the Carnival have just released their debut self-titled album, which has been met with great applause, the BBC describing it as a ‘collection of engaging, swirling tracks and stories that sound like the soundtrack to a creepy, dreamy funfair.’