Into the Light Carol Anne
Chicago, Illinois, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2016 | INDIE
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Into The Light Carol Anne – Symphony for Dolphin and Duck
Into The Light Carol Anne – and breaking some new ground as they go! ‘Symphony for Dolphin and Duck’ is avant garde and experimental in the same way that Radiohead attempted with their genre-defying ‘Kid A’. The main reason ‘Kid A’ failed with the record-buyer was that the record-buyer had their expectations programmed by ‘Pablo Honey’, ‘The Bends’ and ‘OK Computer’. And so the palate cleansing properties of ‘Kid A’ sailed over the heads of most of a music-buying generation.
But Into The Light Carol Anne have no track record, so the listener should not fall in to the same trap. This is the perfect antidote to the Top 40 singles chart! Are your musical tastes feeling jaded? Are your senses dulled by weeks and months of the latest manufactured pop bands? Then look no further than Into The Light Carol Anne to cleanse your senses.
On the first listen it’s easy to miss the many flavours that make up ‘Ventriculation’; it’s definitely a grower and not a grabber and because of this, it’s so easy to disregard it. But don’t! The Eastern flavours will eventually get you and sink their hooks in to your soul and your psyche and you’ll want to listen to it again. And again. And again. Last night I listened to this album whilst sitting in the Souk in the middle of Marrakech and the eclectic mix of styles in ‘Ventriculation’ just worked for me.
The seamless segue from track to track led me, effortlessly, from the start to the end of the album and found me hitting the ‘replay’ button three times in all.
I love the layered flavours in ‘Symphony for Dolphin and Duck’; strong memories of early Pink Floyd (c. ‘Ummagumma’ [studio tracks]) are easily recalled, as is some linked remembering to very early Yes (c. the more conceptual aspects of ‘Tales from Topographic Oceans’).
The interesting use of sampled vocals in ‘Duck’ easily added a higher dimension to the musical white noise. Was this a distraction? Or is it a device to make the listener concentrate on the more global sound experience? I loved the way the setup for the rock beginning of ‘V’ comes from the end of ‘Duck’; it made my heart race!
What else do we know about Into The Light Carol Anne? Apart from the rather bizarre member naming convention they’ve adopted? Well, I see that they’ve been played in a number of podcasts; in October 2008 Radio Orphans podcast played ‘Velorum’ and in December 2008 Atlantic Wave Radio played ‘V’. But elsewhere? Very little sign of them getting ‘Symphony for Dolphin and Duck’ in front of a wider audience which, frankly, is the wider audience’s loss! I also see that they’ve put ‘Symphony for Dolphin and Duck’ on the Podsafe Music Network; very good thinking!
I’ll admit, though, that this style of artistry isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Imagine that you’re really in the art world and you’re looking for a Stubbs or a Munnings but you’ve accidentally wandered in to a roomful of Rothko. Fish of a completely different kettle.
The style of tonal and melodic deconstruction which again reflects this reviewer’s mind back to early Pink Floyd and early Yes is a delightful challenge to get to know. The ‘crash and smash’ set pieces have clearly been carefully considered, though there is a broad flavour of improvisation in there too – in much the same way that good modern jazz (e.g. Dave Bruebeck’s Take Five) also goes through deconstruction/reinvention cycles.
Listening to Symphony for Dolphin and Duck is a challenge, but it’s a brilliant challenge that everyone should go through and learn to love.
The mass market will undoubtedly shy away from this work which is a terrible shame. And their loss. This music is a tonal palate cleanser, an antidote to the output from the mainstream musical media.
Brennig Jones
30th December 2008
- Brenning Jones
Had a lovely evening last night: 2 Sci-Fi novels (ever read Cordwainer Smith?), Symphony for Dolphin and Duck (x2), candelabra. Thanks for giving me that kick into otherworldly, future-times that I needed!
Tara Connelly
- Tara Connelly of The Haunting
Discography
Symphony for Dolphin and Duck (2008 Nowhere Records)
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
In the summer of 2006 a fiddle player and a bass player started creating songs that challenged them to be better musicians. Eventually they attracted the attention of like minded musicians. These four, all veterans of long touring bands began honing the music that would eventually make up their live set and the Symphony for Dolphin and Duck E.P. They decided, however, that the music should be the focus of the band and the personalities should remain uninvolved; with a nod to the Residents the band decided to remain anonymous and adopted numbers to designate their contributions to the band.
The band reveled in taking gigs where the audience would be unprepared for their dense and often dissonant sound, playing with Jazz quintets, pop bands, and even in Blues bars.
In May of 2008 the band finally entered the studio for Nowhere Records, recording a live set with minimal overdubs. Once the October 2008 release date for the record was wet the band promptly proclaimed that they would no longer play the songs on the E.P. live instead presenting a completely new set of songs.
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