ALBUM REVIEWS

the soundcarriers HARMONIUM MELODIC 25.5.09 @www.vanguard-online.co.uk Fluttering woodwind and clanging cowbell. What could be trippier and more evocative of seventies hippydom? The Soundcarriers nail their colours to their flares in the opening seconds before moving on to harmonies reminiscent of Bacharah and David, floating over an impelling bass riff. The bass continues to be a key feature as it propels wah-wah effects and other cultural artefacts. It’s a big fat sound, like strings an inch thick. Lovely. Reverb features large and the result is a comforting rich soup of sound. Few numbers really stand out; you luxuriate instead in warm sounds, enjoying the changes that come – like solos and changes in tone and texture. Jazz influences feature heavily and the sense of groove owes a lot to Can – hence the key parts bass and drum play here. (Is it a coincidence they have borrowed the name ex-Can frontman and crazy bloke, Damo Suzuki, uses for his pick-up bands at each different gig?) The band name-check Selectadisc, the legendary Nottingham record shop and I imagine they spend a lot of time there, digging through the arcane releases and finding influences to unravel and explore themselves. What they’ve done is to create something different from all the ingredients of seventies psychedelia by using the tools but aiming off somewhere to the side, leaving us with enough signposts and maps that we know where we are although we are somewhere new. Not since The Polyphonic Spree has there been a debut album so apparently fully-formed and dipped in the soul of psychedelia without being a copy of anything else. This is out on a floating airbed at sea on its own but will pick up on some of the wave of retro love for lounge scenes and general loosely funky atmospheres. From its lovely retro CD design to the groovy looseness contained on the silver side, this is well worth exploring. Ross McGibbon www.thesoundcarriers.com Email Links & Comments to the editor Check the latest album releases