Carnival Moon

Last night I had the opportunity to check out Toronto/Dublin indie-folk outfit CARNIVAL MOON – and when a band pulls out a full-size harp as part of their main stage act, you know you’re about to see something special.

After it was accidentally leaked in August 2011, the current trio (once a quartet) set out to officially release their debut EP Our Little Hourglass a few months ago back in November. Fittingly, it’s harp and violin heavy with some minimalist percussion work and an array of synths and layered vocal harmonies – really beautiful stuff; check it out in the embed below.

The group apparently has a full-length in the works and they’re set to hit the studio in the spring this year for a hopeful fall release.

If some prominent harp-playing is up your alley, stay tuned for more CARNIVAL MOON news, or keep tabs on the group over on Facebook. - The Indie Machine

The excellent Toronto-based orchestral-folk band Carnival Moon just completed two videos with Southern Souls. The band – which shares members with another great Toronto folk band, Wilderness of Manitoba – has only recently started playing shows around town, but they’re already pretty damn tight. They just played Tiger Bar Groove last week, if you weren’t there, this is what you missed. - Gold Soundz

The midnight time slot was when the bar/restaurant became the most packed. While some people earlier on had been in the back room to eat, people backed the back at midnight to see Carnival Moon, and with great reason. As it turns out, Carnival Moon was the only one of my five picks that I actually went to see.

My last time seeing Carnival Moon was almost two years ago, when it was just Elaine Kelly-Canning and David Scanlon. Since then the duo has expanded, featuring Will Whitwham of the Wilderness of Manitoba among others. The sound has also expanded, as I noted in my review of the wonderful Our Little Hourglass EP. The set, overall, was enchanting.

Those unfamiliar got a great taste of what to come, as Carnival Moon opened with “I Am Czernbroski.” The song starts with little more than the harp, and partway through the rest of the band kicks in to show what the song is capable of. The band played through the rest of the EP plus some newer songs, my favourite being “The Laporte Family” which would have had me dancing had I not been trapped in a booth.

Kelly-Canning and the rest of the band were pretty hilarious in-between songs, at one point talking about the buzzing sound on stage that was driving them all crazy. “Let’s all trip out together,” Whitwham said at one point. It was a perfect way to end the night for me. - Grayowl Point

There’s one thing for sure- the Carnival Moon is extremely different from the Carnival Moon I saw last year at a Piston show. Her impressive harp-playing is still there, but she’s got a lot more help (in other words, a backing band).

The addition of the background instrumentals add a huge dimension to her already impressive and intelligent music. Her harp on its own would still be music that isn’t heard often, but it’s a treat when it’s combined with, for example, light flourishes of percussion in her song “Electronic Jeff Bridges” (best song title of the year so far?).

The best thing about Elaine Kelly-Canning (the female half of Carnival Moon) is that there’s really only one famous harp player to compare her to and, well, Kelly-Canning’s vocals will be undeniably much more pleasant to listen to and much less likely to cause massive internet debates over.

Now to the actual songs- they’re fantastic. Kelly-Canning as well as David Scanlon (the male half of Carnival Moon) never keep a consistent melody going for an entire song, leaving plenty of surprise for the ears. What may sound like a song completely dedicated to plucking of the harp at first (like “I Am Czernbroski”) may evolve into something involving drums and the sweeping of strings (and incorporating Scanlon’s vocals into the mix too!)

The song “The Laporte Family” at the beginning almost sounds like it could be played for a ballroom dance. It’s extremely graceful and almost hypnotic. It eventually adds instruments in later to change up the sound a little.

“Quizzical Face” is an interesting song lyrically, talking about walking down Oxford streets and beardless wonders. There’s also a nice combination of the plucked strings and the occasional thump of percussion.

Finally there’s “Maple Wife” which again starts with Kelly-Canning’s hypnotic harp plucking before her vocals are instead supported by piano keys and majestic-sounding drum rolls.

This is a wonderful recording to behold, only making me wonder what a full-length could sound like. - Grayowl Point