Search - Miranda Sex Garden :: Carnival of Souls

Carpe Diem...

Stranger | Spain | 09/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is what usually happens when some talented musicians with no future prospect of recording anything else together are allowed again to do the music they do best without any restrictions; in other words, there are times when a masterpiece is quite likely to come out from a long-shot, being artefacts like "Carnival of Souls" the palpable truth of it.



Recorded under a rather precarious situation (the band was in a kind of limbo since dropped from Mute Records in 1995 and the label sugar-daddy had very few chances to survive) Miranda Sex Garden performs in this album in the best (and only) way they can, that is, as if there was no tomorrow, no future chance to do the same thing again. It must be said that they succeed completely as this record constitutes, against all odds, their best effort to date. A triumph which is even more remarkable if we take into account the high level of excellency displayed in all their previous albums (`Iris', `Suspiria', etc).



Released in the year 2000, "Carnival of Souls" is a magnificent collection of songs and a few instrumentals that, paradoxically, went almost unnoticed. Even the group's former releases were more widely discussed, which is a tragedy, considering the sheer quality of this very album. Structurally, the record follows the same line of past works, alternating both vocal songs and instrumental tracks. The overall sound is a little bit more accessible compared to the other albums without betraying at any moment the peculiar and indescribable style of the band.



There are also, as usual with this group, some changes in the line-up, being Donna McKevitt and Hepzibah Sessa replaced with Teresa Casella (from medieval baebes) on electric bass together with other musicians such as Mike Servant and Barney Hollington. Trevor Sharpe and Ben Golomstock are available one more time on drums and guitars respectively. Of course the group's linchpin, Katharine Blake, is again doing most of the singing and writing the lyrics. I would say that she's never sung better than on this one. Songs like "Sleeping Beauty"; "Broken Glass", "Tonight" or "Close to the Sky" are real highlights. I see the band in this album more proficient and self-confident than ever. As a whole, Miranda Sex Garden managed to create twelve impressive tracks that, to quote one of them, are very close to...perfection. Too bad that the CD is out of stock and has become an expensive collector's item.



I'm looking forward to hear some new material by MSG in a not very distant future. Such talents shouldn't give up so soon. I have a feeling that the best for them is yet to come. There are not many bands out there that meet up every single one of my expectations as a listener, but MSG does it every time. Unfortunately, their increasing difficulties to find a label do not precisely fuel up my optimism. How can it be possible that people like this can't get a record deal? It's crystal-clear that the music industry is even more incompetent and dimmer than I thought. To cap it all, the lyrics of the gorgeous "Ever & Ever" sound to me very much like a farewell. Deeply disturbing...



I expect that "Carnival of souls" won't be the last chapter in Miranda Sex Garden's enthralling career. This wonderful story cannot stop here. But for me there is one sure thing: whether they come back or not I, at least, will always have a very special place for them in my memory. They deserve it. I don't know, it must be that I pride myself on not following the sheep mentality which is characteristic of mainstream music, but the truth is that I cannot help to feel myself fortunate for having had the luck to come across a band like this one.



Miranda Sex Garden are unprecedented and unrepeatable (and I think they are aware of that)."