Miranda Sex Garden - Carnival of Souls (2000)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Miranda Sex Garden - Iris (1991) + Sunshine (1993)

Fourth and final album by the eternally underrated Miranda Sex Garden. Carnival of Souls was a reunion album, but despite the four and a half years of downtime and a few new band members, it's the sound of a band working at the height of their powers. The towering walls of sound and haunting vocals are all intact, but it's all even bigger and more crushing than ever, and with some welcome expansions of style -- for instance, the cinematic noir-jazz of "Tonight". It's been seven years (!) since that first Miranda Sex Garden post, and in the interim, Carnival of Souls has become my favorite MSG release, hands-down.

Track listing:

1. Are You the One?

2. Sleeping Beauty

3. Tonight

4. All There Is

5. Broken Glass

6. Escape from Kilburn (Instrumental)

7. Token (Incidental)

8. Without Trace

9. Caravan

10. Thrusty Bob's Hardcore Lounge (Incidental)

11. Close to the Sky

12. Ever & Ever

All we ever knew was music and laughter

You should also listen to:

Canaan - Blue Fire (1996)

Fear of Dolls - When the Organ Played at Twilight (1999)

Miranda Sex Garden - Iris (1992) + Sunshine (1993)

Miranda Sex Garden was an eclectic English group who fused musical and sonic elements of English folk music (their first LP consists entirely of ethereal, a cappella takes on traditionals), gothic rock, and shoegaze. While there's a good deal of variation from song to song, the wall-of-sound production and powerful pipes of lead vocalist of Katharine Blake keep things pretty cohesive. The Iris EP marks the first time that they incorporated rock instruments into their sound, and it's possibly my favorite entry in their discography. Released the following year, Sunshine consists of the explosive, kaleidoscopic title track, a short a cappella diddy, a live version of a song from the Iris EP, and a kinda silly, 'spooky,' organ-led instrumental.

Track listing:
-Iris-
1. Lovely Joan
2. Falling
3. Fear
4. Blue Light
5. Iris
-Sunshine-
1. Sunshine
2. Muff Diving Size Queen
3. Fear (live)
4. Willie Biddle in His Watery Grave

Shadows on my way