I had a good laugh recently with all the stories about the Northampton clown – a clown who appears in front of people's houses and just stands there freaking the absolute fuck out of people. There's no logical reason for people to think he could be a serial killer or rapist, but they do. Such is the strength of the fine line between good and evil that is the circus; a happy, silly place of family entertainment one minute; the sum of all fears the next. It's been explored brilliantly in films like Carnival of Souls, and in songs like 'Waltz in Black' by The Stranglers and it's in a similar crescendo of madness that Melbourne dark cabaret outfit Rouge Foncé has released their latest single, 'The Carousel'.
We all know most music is better live, but when your stage act extends beyond simply getting up on stage and playing, when it exudes sensuality and brazenly walks the razor's edge between anarchy and order, between sanity and madness, then it's going to be all that much harder to turn into a series of ones and zeros in your device. In this case the sense of theatre of their live performances is massaged into a splendidly crafted song that uses a level of onomatopoeia (mostly from Weezel on keys) that we just don't see enough of to help tell the story and create an image in your mind.
Lola Jane's vocals add to the schizophrenia – so smooth, calm and relaxed while she sings about the turmoil inside, spinning her around on an emotional carousel, before the switch flicks and the maniacal laughter and screaming takes over along with an explosion of sound from the rest of the band. But listen for yourself then pick up the single on that iTunes thing, or better still keep your eyes open and get to one of their gigs. You might even be lucky enough to find burlesque noir dancer Kerryx on stage that night – she's in the film clip below.
