What makes musicians special? I mean really special… Where I’m coming from it’s nothing to do with selling heaps of CDs (in fact sometimes the reverse is true) or media hype (especially here in the UK), or level of airplay. No, these things don’t register with me, but what does is the ability to write and perform with sufficient quality and integrity to touch my emotions. And it matters not which musical genre is used to communicate the message; it can be heavy metal, country, folk…There is one other factor I look for: self-belief, performance without compromise. These acts exist in larger numbers than you think because most of what these acts sing and write is never heard on the airwaves.

Carina Round is a singer/songwriter and arguably the UK’s very best female. She’s uncompromising, hugely talented and deserves a much wider audience for her work. Round has produced three albums over the last eight years - all stunning in their emotionally charged songs and performances. But this five-song mini-album I believe is her most important and could just attract the size of audience she so richly deserves.

I’ll go further. This album plays for just over twenty-four minutes and while all five are killer songs it’s the first eight-minutes and thirty-one seconds that could actually turn the tide for her. ‘Backseat’ and ‘Please Don’t Stop’ are radically different from anything that has gone before and reveal an artist who can and does use any musical device to convey her profound personal feelings and messages.

‘Backseat’ opens sweetly, whimsically, with gently plucked guitar with Round sounding more gentle and contemplative than I’ve ever heard before. It almost sounds like a lullaby before it builds and builds with multi-layered vocals and many more instruments creating an epic closing crescendo. Lyrically it’s watertight: “We were sleeping in for years, letting go of our friends, scaring our friends… the things you find, in the backseat of your mind, what you find.” ‘Please Don’t Stop’ is also very different from anything that she has written before. It’s edgier and harder than the first song but contains similar elements - the rising pulse, instrumental and vocal crescendo - with both being more ‘radio-friendly’ than any of her previous work, while being highly distinctive and different from mainstream radio fodder.

‘Thief In The Sky’, ‘Do You’ and ‘For Everything A Reason’ also represent a somewhat softer approach but the differences from previous work are more subtle, all songs are superb and exhibit Round’s ability to create powerful melodies that play mind games… I’ve not stopped playing this mini-album since receiving it from the States where Round now spends much of her time. The CD is available for download from iTunes from May and if you like singer/songwriters, especially of the female variety, this record represents an absolutely essential purchase.

5/5

SEE CARINA ROUND LIVE IN LONDON & USA!

KCRW INTERVIEW AND BRILLIANT ACOUSTIC SET

Carina recently visited our friends at KCRW and performed an acoustic session and gave an interview. Click this link to see the full session - it’s brilliant! 

http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html type=video&id=mb090526carina_round

The following link is when Carina appeared as a special guest on the Smashing Pumpkins site.

http://www.smashingpumpkins.com/pages/articles/things-you-should-know-about-carina-round

UPCOMING LONDON SHOWS JULY ‘09

Physical copies of the CD (reviewed above) and limited edition merchandise will  only be available at live shows at the moment so be sure not to miss them!

Also, be the 500th person to sign up on the new www.carinaround.com
and get a free signed EP, Ltd Edition hand screened T-shirt AND a signed photo!

Pure Groove In-store
July 21 @ 1:15pm
6-7 West Smithfield,
London, EC1A 9JX
+44 (0)20 7778 9278
http://www.puregroove.co.uk/in-store.aspx

Monto Water Rats
July 21st & 23rd @ 9:15pm
328 Grays Inn Road
London WC1X 8BZ
For Tickets for July 21st click me.
For Tickets for July 23rd click me here.

For more info on Carina Round, visit:

www.carinaround.com
www.myspace.com/carinaround
www.twitter.com/carinaround
www.youtube.com/carinaround