Description:	7" on Static Caravan
	Format:	7" (vinyl)
	Genre(s):	Indie Pop
	Label:	Static Caravan
	Price:	£3.29
	Availability:	Sold out / currently unavailable. Sorry!

4
...according to our Phil on 17 September 2009.

Erland And The Carnival are a supergroup of sorts featuring a chap called Erland (surprisingly), Simon Tong (from The Verve, The Good The Bad The Queen) and Nick Nock (drummer who's worked with Macca on The Fireman project thing he does). It's pretty crazy sounding psyche pop harking back to the good ole days that were the 60's well before the likes of me and everyone else here were born. But I've read about them and they seemed nice. The lead track is a roaring romp with shades of Love and some other 60's things I can't think of. The guitars have an element of the Arctic Monkeys about them... I do like the swirly keyboards which lurk about at times. 'Was You ever See' is a smashing pop tune which is already growing on me on 2nd listen. Always a good sign!! 500 only!

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What their label says...

Erland is Erland Cooper, an Orcadian guitarist. The Carnival are guitarist Simon Tong (The Verve, The Good, The Bad, The Queen) plus drummer/engineer David Nock (engineer on Paul McCartney’s The Fireman). Well, that’s“the basic triangle and three headed monster of the group,” says Tong – keys/harmonium player Andy Bruce, vocalist Georgia Sands and bassist Danny Wheeler complete the extended line-up. Together, they make a pastoral, psychedelic sound described by Tong as “Pentangle meets Ennio Morricone meets Love meets 13th Floor Elevators meets Joe Meek.” Their debut single, Was You Ever See, is fairly typical of the band’s style – it’s a traditional song brought new life by the unique band, who add dark tones, adapted lyrics and a propulsive beat. It’s the folk tradition: words change over time, but the song remains. Erland grew up on the Orkney Islands, where passing folk 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 Tong by the producer Youth. Originally, Nock and Tong talked about writing and producing an album with Erland. Instead, they all decided to form a band, and took their name from Jackson C Frank’s My Name Is Carnival, a cover of which appears on their forthcoming 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. The forthcoming album, from which Was You Ever See is taken, was recorded at Studio 13 (owned by Tong’s The Good, The Bad, The Queen band mate Damon Albarn) and mixed at Youth’s garden studio.