EP Review: Carousell – Cuckoo

Immediately redolent with the dreamy yet wistful power of The Duke Spirit, London-based four-piece Carousell have proved themselves to be simultaneously in touch with what has gone before but also thrillingly progressive. Citing The Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen as occupying ‘a similar space’ is a bold move for a band whose talents are clearly bent to making their own very now niche. The influences are right there, worn plainly on the sleeve. And yet this four-track EP sounds as fresh and vitally contemporary as it needs to be to break through the chatter and fog.

With all the musical firepower at their disposal, Carousell have made the four songs that comprise this EP masterpieces of form and dynamics, switching effortlessly between low and high gear. Opening track Ceilings is a dreamy mid-tempo burner, simultaneously ethereal and organically powerful. That power derives from the drums and bass which is the foundation on which the hypnotic guitar, synth and Sara Baile‘s mesmerising, spaced-out vocal is balanced. Title track Cuckoo is a post-punk classic, referencing the thin, chorused guitar sound of those days on top of a growling bass and thumping drum backing. Nightshade out-Banshee‘s Siouxsie with its superior Love In A Void up-tempo feel. Shotgun, by way of contrast, is a bewildering yet uplifting mix of baggy and goth.

Don’t let the obvious nods to musical sounds gone by flavour your opinion of this EP before you hear it. It is a thing of beauty in its own right, full of mystery and the kind of restrained power often missing from music today. If you like your sounds enigmatic, hypnotic and full of dark falvours, the Cuckoo EP is definitely one for you.

The Cuckoo EP by Carousell can be pre-ordered on CD here