Christina Carter - Original Darkness

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

4...according to our Brett on Thu 16 Oct, 2008.

Fresh from her Scorces stuff we have Christina Carter who ploughs the fields of my ears with an enchanted combine harvester that's got 'Original Darkness' written on the side in blue biro. This combine harvester is white by the way, like it's just about to go off and get married but before it does it just wants one last whiff of freedom, one last plough of it's favourite field.. The one in my ears (there's a bridge between them that goes over the top of my brain). God, I'm really sorry about this - I think I might be over-tired or something. This is really quite an ace album, wispy and sinister and spare and haunting in quite unexpected ways; using all manner of sounds to complement the ubiquitous plucking of a folky guitar, sounds that in theory you might expect to turn up on some sort of bright, sun-worshipping psychedelia are here used to achieve much more unnerving ends. It's a little like listening to the calm after some sort of storm, peaceful but hugely eerie, lost souls wandering more out of habit than hope. The main focus is clearly on the lady's voice and the lyrics (fully printed on the packaging) which to be quite honest I was barely even listening to until I wrote this little bit here because the music's so great on its own.. The words are some dark shit actually, all vague allusions to the confusion and secrets people harbour. I think I could get properly lost in this one! Oh, go on then, you can have a comparison too.. Fursaxa maybe?

* Christina Carter is an exceptional and compelling musician , pushing the boundaries of personal expression and innovative sonics, she is perhaps better known for her work as part of the popular free- folk duo Charalambides.
* Much loved by Sonic Youth, Kim Gordon made the last Charalambides album ‘Likeness’ (krank113) her #1 album of the year in Mojo Dec. 2007 "Even P.J. Harvey’s new record, as dark as it is, is not as revealing as Christina." Christina also guested on Thurston Moore’s current solo album.
* Christina Carter has a gift. In a world where most people shy away from the truth, from honesty in emotion, Christina has the strength to address those feelings head on through her music. Within the songs of Original Darkness, she confronts loneliness, self doubt, inadequacy and desire. She bares these emotions in a sometimes tender, sometimes forceful, sometimes pleading voice, a voice in which you can hear her vulnerability, her trepidation.
* Christina’s words, and the mournful sound of them, stirs a melancholy that is supported and framed by her gently plucked guitar notes, notes that echo the sadness in the world she sings of, as well as the words she sings.
* These ten new songs paint pictures; exposing the underbelly of what we all really think but most will not say, of what we all really feel but push away. With the addition of gentle bells and occasional keyboards, Christina reminds us of what it means to be honestly human.
* Track listing: 1. Original Darkness 2. Fountain Of Youth 3. You Are So Far Away4. Re-Found Mary 5. Hidden Man 6. Capable of Murder 7. Do Not Love A Woman 8. Suffering 9. In Prisoned Body 10. Do You Recognize My Voice?

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