Harvest Festival
Part "Hejo, spann den Wagen an", part early 2000s alt-rock, this
autumnal-themed offering plays to the bands' greatest strengths,
combining folk inspired quirkiness with bone-crushingly heavy guitars.
While the melodies are catchy as ever, the track's 5/8 time signature
and canon form also makes it appealing to music theory aficionados.
Harvest Festival
Part "Hejo, spann den Wagen an", part early 2000s alt-rock, this
autumnal-themed offering plays to the bands' greatest strengths,
combining folk inspired quirkiness with bone-crushingly heavy guitars.
While the melodies are catchy as ever, the track's 5/8 time signature
and canon form also makes it appealing to music theory aficionados.
The idea for "Harvest Festival" started with a folky fingerpicking riff
made by Thomas on guitar that used an unusual rhythmic metre: 5/8 time
(i.e., 5 beats per bar, instead of the usual 4). To make things even
more confusing, the band then experimented with using a canon form in the
other instrumental and vocal parts, with each person starting the riff
on a different beat (maybe some of you have sung such "canons" before in
school?). This quasi-traditional song structure thus makes the verses
call to mind scenes spent during Autumn in childhood, where indeed, many
schools still celebrate their own harvest festivals. The song proceeds to then shatter this
"innocence" with heavily distorted guitars and bass in the chorus,
bringing to mind not a bountiful harvest, but rather, drought,
destruction, and corporate poisoning of vital resources.
Gargoyle
Despite their demonic appearance, gargoyles were traditionally intended
to ward away evil spirits - the song explores this seemingly paradoxical
notion, that one's fears can be overcome by becoming fearsome oneself.
As a rock song with a twist: it features heavy influences
from both drum & bass and the music of J. S. Bach (the latter,
evoking the gothic architecture that gargoyles are associated with).
With guitar and bass that interlock like baroque counterpoint; explosive
bursts of distortion; and a climactic end section that pairs frenetic
drum & bass with dub-style rhythms, the song is a meditation on the
notion of fear and its subsequent overcoming.
A Fistful of Bitcoin
Inspired by the music of Ennio Morricone and grunge rock, this song is a tribute to the Wild West days of the early internet and the vast digital freedoms that were once promised but now seem out of reach.
A Fistful of Bitcoin
Inspired by the music of Ennio Morricone and grunge rock, this song is a tribute to the Wild West days of the early internet and the vast digital freedoms that were once promised but now seem out of reach.
It was partly inspired
by an article written by Kate Wagner entitled "404 Page Not Found".
Wagner looks back fondly at the early days of the internet and suggests
that there's something endearing about those old trashy MySpace pages -
as digital spaces have become more and more standardised and
commodified, we seem to have lost that initial "wild west", chaotic
creative spirit that typified the late 90s/early 2000s. So our song
looks back with both nostalgia and bitterness to this time, prior to
when the digital space became carved up and "colonised", resulting in
its more clinical (and profit-orientated) form that we know today.
Woke
What does it mean to be "woke"? And why does the idea agitate so many
people? Via a 90s-inspired alternative rock aesthetic, an off-kilter
drumbeat, and the powerful, raw vocals of Marta Owczarek, these are the
questions explored in our new song.
The song is in defence of "wokeness" or being "woke". The Right Wing
tend to perceive wokeness as, at best, trivial or unnecessary (e.g.
changes in language, correct pronouns, etc.), and at worst, a threat to
their way of life. This fails to understand the actual situation of
oppressed minorities (POC, LGBTQ+, etc.), whose way of life is actually
threatened on a daily basis due to social and institutional
discrimination.
The chorus lyric, "sleep comes so naturally / such is evil's banality"
is a reference to Hannah Arendt's notion of the "banality of evil". In
other words, it is not necessary to be a monster or psychopath to commit
evil acts - such acts can occur by mindlessly carrying out a task, such
as the currently popular anti-woke agenda.
A Fistful of Bitcoin Live
Performed live at the national finale of the Local Heroes competition in Germany, it contributed to the band winning "best live performance" and the public vote prize.
Carnivalesque demonstrated their skills in the "Local Heroes Bandcontest 2022", winning "Best Newcomer in Berlin" in the state competition before moving on to the national finals. There, they convinced both the jury and the audience, winning both the prize for "Best Live Performance" and the "Audience Award".
Currently, the band is working on their second album. In this next chapter, they started incorporating more electronic
influences and a vocal looper to lift their music to the next level.
Rousing violin-playing meets hard driving basslines and a plethora of
rhythmic styles. So stay tuned for what's to come!
Rising social inequality, years of misguided climate politics, and a
global shift in society towards the right: a lot on the plate for
Millennials and Gen Z...against this backdrop, Carnivalesque embody the
absurdity of everyday injustices under late-stage capitalism, blending
grunge rock with elements of folk, classical and electronic music to
create their own sound: Rock Bizarre
After more than a year of writing and arranging, Carnivalesque released their self-produced eponymous debut album in March 2022. Featuring tracks such as "Riches to Rags" and "Green Room", the album forms a cultural critique of late capitalism, realised through a 90s grunge rock aesthetic which draws from an eclectic mix of influences.
British founder and guitarist Thomas MacMillan had already been working on the first tracks since 2018. He then met Polish singer Marta Owczarek, whose powerful rock voice and expansive vocal range perfectly realises both the delicate and heavy aspects of this material. The musical foundation is formed by bassist Hans Köbler, who has played with the band since 2019, allowing the band to develop their musical gut instincts. Hans has also been instrumental in taking initially abstract musical ideas and assembling them into a rousing arrangement. Finally, drummer Erik Hansen has not only been rocking behind the drums since summer 2021, but his new input and knowledge of music production led to the band finally releasing their first album.
Currently without a label and with unlimited artistic freedom, the album is produced in accordance with the DIY attitude of punk, which builds on rock music with various influences from funk, hip-hop, folk and world music. Thomas MacMillan describes his own music as follows: "I feel like a lot of current music and art is false representation and meaningless. Especially rock, which is basically dead museum music now. It's escapism, whereas I want the opposite: show people the harsh realities of life, draw attention to injustices and reveal false idealism. Rock music with a social realism aspect that is not afraid to borrow from other genres."
It is music for everyone, addressing vulnerable groups that do not feel represented by the ideal society. People who pursue meaningless and soulless occupations to maintain their existence; the exploited; people with mental and physical illnesses and those who fall through safety nets. The band wants to address a wide audience, which deviates from the usual rock clichés and has no place for sexism, boasting and egocentrism.
Members:
Marta Owczarek // Vocals, Violin
Hans Köbler // Bass
Thomas MacMillan // Guitar
Erik Hansen // Drums
