Editor’s note: This review is long overdue. We were sent this album weeks before its February release date, but regrettably it was put on a pile in a Very Safe Place and overlooked until now. But who cares about critical punctuality? Here’s our tuppence worth…
Put on your best headphones, boys and girls, because this deserves some special attention. The Carnival Leaves Town is the new LP from the critically-acclaimed The Dawn Chorus (not to be confused with this Dawn Chorus or this other The Dawn Chorus, but perhaps meriting a favorable comparison with this dawn chorus). Unsurprisingly, Carnival takes on the conceit of a wandering fair, with almost all of the melancholy and dilapidated burlesque one could hope for.
Each song is penned with the consistently superlative lyrics for which The Dawn Chorus are becoming known. Kyle Evans has a good wail on him, for an indie boy, and makes strong use of it. Occasionally, however, it does sound like he’s trying to sing through his sinuses when he reaches for higher notes; this is especially apparent on ‘Pacifists’. This (admittedly minor) fault in fact contributes to the atmosphere; the seedy air of a rundown attraction on the straw-hat circuit. But it is the wonderful accordion and trumpet pieces that really bolster this image, shouldering most of the burden of sustaining the carnival sound. Carnival…’s great strength is in its compositions; for each song, the instrumentals are skillful, haunting, and at times wonderfully despondent.
It’s a little hard to take the lyrics seriously at times, coming from such a young vocalist. Evans’ vocals lack the kind of substance and heft that give credence to lyrics like “As our children watch us gracefully become dirt in the ground“. And while the opening number, “Enter: The Carnival”, sets up the mad and the histrionic, the conceit falls through rather quickly. None of the other songs in the album showcase that same madcap dilapidation. The inclusion, for instance, of ‘Schumann’ was a confusing choice. It might very well be the best song on an album filled with excellent pieces showcasing an extremely talented group of musicians, but its connection to carnival is ephemeral at best (Schumann wrote, as Romantic fans may know, a piece called ‘Carnaval’, naming sections after two girls he was seeing at the time).
Strongly melodic and lyrically gifted, The Carnival Leaves Town is weak as a concept album, but this should by no means be taken as a detraction on anything but the packaging. Sophomore albums often fall sub-par, but with these beautifully-crafted songs The Dawn Chorus easily meet the bar set by their debut.
Our Arbitrary Numerical Verdict:
'The Dawn Chorus - 'Carnivalesque'
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Margret Crist is Stereokill's US correspondent, based in San Francisco. Email her at 
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