Miranda Sex Garden

"Carnival of Souls"

(Cleopatra)

Released July 11, 2000

*** (Three stars)

If Miranda Sex Garden's "Carnival of Souls" were flesh-and-blood, it would be a slightly seedy but still beautiful woman destined to end up alone and haunted by morbid fears and past mistakes. In fact, the album feels so cinematic that a viewing of the identically-named 1962 cult thriller seemed in order. The film is a creepy low-budget thriller that strove for a "Bergman look and Cocteau feel," according to the delightfully monikered director, Herk Harvey. And a little investigation reveals that the band is a big fan of the black-and-white cult classic.

Regardless, this record has enough angst and atmosphere without bringing in a hastily written plot about a church organist who may be a walking corpse. Reminiscent of Angelo Badalamenti's Twin Peaks" compositions, the aural "Carnival of Souls" is a bleakly haunting piece of work that's moody as a self-consciously dramatic teenager who saves her most convincing histrionics for an audience.

Lead vocalist and group founder Katharine Blake pulls the strings as adroitly as a puppet-master, conducting bandmates Trevor Sharpe (drums), Ben Golomstock ("weird guitar"), Teresa Casella (bass), Mike Servent (keyboards) and Barney Hollington (violin) like a well-oiled machine of doom and gloom.

The opening track, "Are You the One," eases the door gently open, only to push the listener through when Black abruptly turns her siren's croon into a banshee wail on the chorus, howling, "Are you the one, and tell me are you for real?" The gruesome lyrics of "Sleeping Beauty" ("Her heart, still beating red and soft and strong/ skin, left hanging off in threads") are belied by the tinkling melody that could have been inspired by a child's abandoned music box. But this fairy tale isn't for kids.

The album's first single is an odd choice; it's hard to imagine a world where the somnambulant "Tonight" would get radio airplay. (Actually, the planet inhabited by the oddly disturbed heroine of Herk Harvey's movie would certainly put this track on heavy rotation, but we don't live in that world. Thank God.) The lushly produced "Tonight" continues the album's reliance on gloom-and-doom lyrics -- "I'll lose you to the waves/ I'll watch you slip away/ I'll lead you to your watery grave" -- punctuated with ethereal musings.

But endless torment grows wearying, and lines like "I taste another sheet of broken glass" start to sound more self-pitying than poetic. While the Duke Ellington standard "Caravan" is a welcome respite from the relentless Sturm und Drang, Blake manages to convey that even though "this is so exciting/ you are so inviting" these lovers are certain to suffer in the end.

When "Carnival of Souls" is over, a faintly sordid mood lingers, much like the aftermath of watching a disturbing old movie in the wee hours. In spite of the hints of loveliness, in the end they're drowned out by calculated artifice and revelations perhaps best left unsaid.

Song samples:

"Are You the One"

"Tonight"

"Caravan"