Nightingale
Album | Erland and the Carnival
Folkies go mod!
Though they've been called the British version of Midlake, Erland and the Carnival take a much more mod approach to their interpretation of classic folk music. On Nightingale, the band's first proper full-length release here in the states, singer-songwriter Erland Cooper and company gleefully construct winsome indie-pop songs out of old psych rock and creaky folk music tropes. The ghosts of Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, the Kinks and early Blur haunt songs like "So Tired in the Morning" and "Dream of the Road" (which is inspired by Dream of the Rood, the oldest poem in the English language), but the record is never boring or tedious. The band might be striving to reinvent British folk, but they can't help but make pop music, as evidenced the bounce of "Map of an Englishman" or the '60s organ swing of "I'm Not Really Here." There is a certain amount of glamorous gloom on the record, but it's not nearly as melancholic as it could be, especially considering Nightingale was recorded in the hull of old ship that's been permanently moored on the Thames.
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MidlakeOrnate British-style folk full of flutes and gently-plucked string instruments
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