The Dawn Chorus -‘The Carnival Leaves Town’ (Jelly Maid Music)
Jellymaid Music, based in Portsmouth, England, have been responsible for putting out a couple of gems. Last year it was The B Of The Bang’s Beginning. Middle. End and The Autons’ Who Do You Think You Are Kidding?– and this year it is the sophomore album from the Dawn Chorus.
Much as I loved ‘The Hope Will Kill Us’ from from the band’s debut album The Big Adventure, I wasn’t blown away by the parent album. But since this album arrived in my in-tray, it has enjoyed several listens and a definite thumbs up from yours truly. Comparisons have been made with Gogol Bordello – not because they actually sound anything like them, but because of the spirit of the album. It truly is the spirit of a Carnival; arrival, show and departure all.
There’s thankfully no press release sporting a lot of crap about a thread running throughout the album, so it works both as an album in its’ own right and with some standout tracks. These would have to include ‘Carnivalesque’ (featuring Frank Turner which they’re chuffed to bits about) and ‘The Guilt.’ Is it a ‘concept’ album? Who knows? It’s a hell of a lot of fun.
Musically, comparisons could be made with the likes of The Coral’s first album – the fact that some of these songs could be sea shantys, and rather like that first album, they’re throwing everything in there and making something wonderful. Broken Records, for the way the seem to be inocorporating bits of other ‘folk’ music (for want of a better label) and making something that is distinctively theirs. And like labelmates The B of the Bang, the feeling that they understand that a rimeless pop song does not mean it has to sound like another 1960s rip-off.
The band have grown considerably over the last couple of years, and hopefully this album will win the plaudits it so richly deserves.
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The Carnival Leaves Town is out now on Jelly Maid Music.
Go here to download the mighty ‘carnivalesque’ for free. All they ask for is your email, which seems pretty reasonable.