The Soundcarriers
Harmonium
Release Date: May 26, 2009
Genre(s): Rock, Pop, Experimental
Record label: Melodic
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Album Review: Harmonium by The Soundcarriers
Very Good, Based on 3 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Drawing inspiration from the Free Design’s sunshine psych-pop harmonies and Stereolab’s electro-lounge, Nottingham’s the Soundcarriers have created its very own slice of seductive psychedelia. The 16 songs that make up this excellent debut oscillate between jazzy free-falling folk and funk, the groovy easy-listening ambience of movie/television soundtracks of the love generation and the trippy mix-and-match vibe of ‘60s Asian pop. In all, it brings to mind contemporaries like Dengue Fever on a number of tracks—including one of many highlights, “Without Sound”—without ever losing a sense of the organic.
Based on rating 7/10
The Soundcarriers are carrying the popsike torch, high and proud. Their debut album is a sweet platter of fluffy, aerial songs that owe a lot to '60s U.K. psychedelic pop, with a touch of tropicalia (in the vocal harmonies) and groove jazz. The sound is very '60s-like, replete with clean electric guitar (OK, there's some fuzz guitar in there too), electric piano, and the occasional harpsichord.
Based on rating 6/10
Let’s get down to brass-tax for a moment: we all love a good runaway. Ducking out the backdoor, faking a sick day, skirting confrontation, letting sleeping dogs lie. I mean, here we are riding the crest of Foreclosure-America, Recession-Globe, Jihad-Tora Bora, Indie-label-Bankruptcy… all of which are jagged rock-tips spiking over black oil and glacier-fresh water.
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