Spaced out retro futurism. From the Midlands.
When the inevitable Midnight Cowboy remake is commissioned, book The Soundcarriers for the soundtrack. Though Nottingham isn’t an obvious place for a 60’s baroque pop revival, such is The Soundcarriers’ attention to detail – split stereo, Joe Meek reverb – you’d be forgiven for thinking their debut was an elaborate prank. Harmonium updates lava lamp pyschedelic freakouts, David Axelrod’s jazzy grooves and the feathery female harmonies of The Free Design, whose Chris Dedrick provides sleevenotes for the vinyl. ‘Uncertainty’ consequently recalls Broadcast, albeit less aloof, while ‘Let It Ride’ sounds like Portishead if they’d jammed harder on Third.
