mara carlyle: ancient & modern EP

That Mara Carlyle was signed to major-label subsidiary Charisma on the back of her delightful but sales-dodging debut The Lovely was surprising. That said major label (EMI) have seemingly screwed her over is less so. With her second album Nuzzle complete but facing an uncertain future as Guy Hands wrings the company’s roster dry, Carlyle is in something of a pickle. It remains to be seen whether this EP is even in the shops tomorrow. It would be a shame if it wasn’t; it’s been too long since Mara’s sumptuous, caressing voice and oddball ditties charmed our ears. We’ve been snapping at her heels for new material ever since she moved our audience to tears at last November’s Wears The Trousers showcase. And now it’s here I suppose we ought to tell you what it’s like.

Eclectic is a horrible word, ungainly in its pronunciation and far too often shoehorned into reviews, and certainly unsuited to a talent like Carlyle. Ancient & Modern is variegated. It’s a mosaic of iridescent splendour, a miscellany of wonder. Co-produced with Dan Carey, the man who brought us Emilíana Torrini’s immaculate Fisherman’s Woman, the EP runs the gamut of history in the fashion we’ve come to expect of Carlyle, from 16th Century secular madrigals to modern urban pop reworkings via the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Beginning with ‘But Now I Do…’, which sees her reunited with Plaid, Carlyle starts very much in the present. The song progresses through several phases: strings slowly build before dropping off into crisp beats and chiming cymbals, which in turn give way to gently insistent drums and bass and an array of peculiar electronic touches. All this as Carlyle takes all manner of vocal twists and turns. In a word, it’s magical.

The mysteriously titled ‘Bowlface En Provence’ is just as richly composed, if a little less strident in approach. Strings, piano and a rolling bed of repetitive guitar and soft, almost heartbeat-like percussion add texture to a beautifully nuanced tale that begins with Carlyle having “been loving so hard I’ve hurt my heart” and ends with her “screaming with joy…throwing your name in the air / and catching it in my mouth again”. Simpler things await with a cover of John Dowland’s 1597 composition, ‘Away With These Self-Loving Lads’, replete with synthesised handclaps, muted drums and the return of Carlyle’s beloved ukulele. Wisely going no further than Dowland’s first two verses, reciting them over and over, Mara imbues the lyrics with all the modern-day relevance she can muster; “what fools are they that have not known / that love likes no laws but his own!,” she sings wearily but with conviction.

Finally, ‘Vietnamerie’ revisits the Baby Bloodheart EP‘s closing track ‘Pixiemerie’, but instead of combining Amerie’s ‘1 Thing’ with The Pixies’ ‘Hey’ she splices it with a traditional Vietnamese folk song. So instead of the slightly menacing chords of ‘Pixiemerie’ we get a soothing, atmospheric translation full of tenderness. On the basis of Ancient & Modern, the album, when it finally arrives, should be a treat. Duets with Willy Mason and Guillemots’ Fyfe Dangerfield await, and purported first single ‘Weird Girl’ features a typically bizarre Gaëlle Denis video in which Carlyle dons some shiny hotpants and prostrates herself upon a knife-thrower’s wheel, all in the name of love. Keep your Hands off Nuzzle, EMI. The people are in need.

[Charisma; June 23, 2008]

Written by: Alan Pedder

Tags: ancient and modern EP, mara carlyle

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 22nd, 2008 at 11:26 pm and is filed under albums & EPs, reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.