Carnivals is Sheffield based Stewart Green and he has generously unleashed this dreamy record for us. The EP ‘Humility’ is visualised with a silhouetted man on his way for a swim into the ocean and, according to the visions my head is presenting me reflected from these musical wonders, this is indeed a very fitting way of presenting Carnivals‘ musical theme.
First, it’s as if you can hear the rhythmic pulse of waves coming towards you in the very beginning of ‘Contrails’. You’re half under/half over the water, and it’s a refreshing experience. Second, there’s the distorted voices of your friends trying to shout down to you from up above in ‘French Tongues’, but you don’t care, all you want to do is to discover the bottom of the sea.
Green shows his brilliance with two things in particular as far as I’m concerned: His way of fading every track carefully into his dreamy ambient moods and then layering tightly with details of all sorts: crunchy beats, psychedelic voices and sampled vocal bits. He is constantly building anticipation, even after reaching his cacophonic peaks. And leaves me eager for more.
On the downside, all this attention to perfection has left me missing more surprises; I would like to hear him take an even more psychedelic and variated approach. Which is not to say I could hope for a more tastefully done electronic release. It might very well end up in my roundup list at the end of the year.
Available now through Bandcamp.
Posted by Bjarte Edvardsen.
