It may be just a year since Erland & The Carnival released their eponymous debut, but the London-based trio – fronted by statuesque Orcadian singer Erland Cooper – aren’t waiting to let the grass grow: they’re about to return with a second album that’s darkly poppy, more direct, more electronic and more twisted.
‘Nightingale’ is a darker, more direct hit of E&TC’s audio intoxicant than their first record, with sweet pop moments frequently punctuating moments of all out insanity. And this time, the cover art is even eerier: a documentary photo of the Enfield poltergeist at work in the late ‘70s, it depicts young Janet Hodgson being thrown across her bedroom by the much-debated dark spirit. Guitarist Simon Tong, ex of The Verve and The Good, The Bad & The Queen, now a guitar-for-hire in Gorillaz remembers seeing the photo when he was a kid and it stuck with him. The image influenced the music because ET&C were trying to create a soundtrack to an imaginary horror film about the supernatural.
The album was recorded deep in the bowels of a WWII-era ship moored at Embankment on the river Thames, where dehumidifiers never did manage to remove the dank smell and the sounds of water created an unmistakable ambience. When cabin fever inevitably set in, they’d poke their heads above board and watch the city commuters buzzing about; the real world rushing by as the trio spent hours in darkness in search of sounds and songs.
Myths, ghosts and ancient ships: welcome to the weird world of Erland & The Carnival.
