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LP
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KK 123LP
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Joseph Carvell returns to Karaoke Kalk with his sophomore album under the Pink Shabab moniker. Never Stopped Loving You was for the most part written between Spring and late Summer 2020 in his Camberwell home and like his 2019 debut Ema By The Sea (KK 115CD/LP) recorded in the South of France together with Emmanuel Mario, better known as Astrobal. It's a record informed by feelings of nostalgia, love, longing, romance and loss and, much like his previous album, displays Carvell's knack for making introversion sound extroverted. As a bassist, his approach to songwriting is both rhythmic and melodic, making the resulting music just as visceral as it is emotive. Managing to play only one show in Zurich in early 2020, he had to cancel his planned European tour and go back to the United Kingdom, which soon went into lockdown. He made the best out of the situation, recording electric and upright bass for Nick Krgovich, Daniel O'Sullivan and Zooey's new records while also working on tracks and demos by himself. Everything came together slowly before he boarded a train to France with his keyboard. Never Stopped Loving You is notably more electronic than its predecessor, but also full of the small melodic and harmonic details that made Ema By The Sea such an outstanding record. "I was listening to more 1990s dance and house music and 1980s pop and also a healthy amount of ambient music," explains Carvell. These influences are clearly audible on songs like the Chicago house-esque beats of "Show Your Love" or "Why Did I Leave You That Morning", the skittish rhythms on "Let Go" and the near-Balearic "San Junipero". Especially the latter makes it clear that Carvell spent much time devoting himself to movies and TV shows, but also incorporated more piano sounds in his song -- the learnt the instrument by playing along to classic Beatles and Beach Boys songs. Despite being more upbeat on a rhythmic level than before, Carvell's use of texture and his peculiar voice add another note to the music. Even an anthemic song like "Run Away", his first composition to follow a classic verse/chorus structure, is profoundly ambivalent, both overjoyed and deeply melancholic. By the same token however, even a torch song like "You Stepped Out of My Life" is enormously consoling. This, after all, has always been Carvell's strength: creating music that will cheer you up when you're down while also injecting a sense of futility into every moment of euphoria. Edition of 300.
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CD
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KK 115CD
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Ema By The Sea is Joseph Carvell's debut album under his Pink Shabab moniker. It is the first and long overdue solo record by one of the most trusted bassists in the world of adventurous pop and rock music. When he is not playing with Marker Starling, the former Batsch member can be heard on upright and double bass on a slew of Baby Dee albums like her 2012 collaboration LP with Little Annie or Laetitia Sadier's Find Me Finding You (2017), amongst others. When Carvell is not busy as an active member of the cumbia band Malphino and the Moondog tribute I'm This I'm That, or playing improvised jazz with various friends, he writes Pink Shabab songs at night. With Ema By The Sea, he presents his idiosyncratic approach to subtle disco music for the first time. These nine songs sound as heartbroken as they are uplifting. Ema By The Sea was written in a South London bedroom, but recorded in Southern France. After hearing Carvell perform live as Pink Shabab, Emmanuel Mario, whose album L'infini, L'Univers Et Les Mondes under his Astrobal moniker was released earlier in 2019 on the Berlin-based Karaoke Kalk (KK 112CD/LP), invited the British songwriter into his home studio. It is easy to see -- or rather: hear -- why the two hit it off immediately: drawing on funk, soul, new wave, jazz, and dance music, Carvell's songs meander as effortlessly through different musical worlds as Mario's own productions. Groovy and laid-back, danceable and intimate, the minimalist structures of Carvell's songwriting open up a lot of space and make room for plenty of surprises along the way. Carvell builds his songs around his instrument of choice, the bass. From the driving opener "If Only I Could Hold You One More Time" to the disco and funk influenced "Let Me Explain", "Tried To Tell You", or "Last Of The Boys" and the somber rhythms of the final song "You Can't Go Back", his cunning playing seamlessly oscillates between different styles. In combination with his almost coy singing style and the juxtaposition of an airtight drum programming with colorful synthesizer melodies, Ema By The Sea thus provides a wide-ranging palette of moods -- spooky, lively, cosmic, romantic, you name it. Where in one moment pensive sentimentality prevails, the next song will call you to the dancefloor. Ema By The Sea offers both melancholy and exuberant bliss.
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LP
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KK 115LP
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LP version. Ema By The Sea is Joseph Carvell's debut album under his Pink Shabab moniker. It is the first and long overdue solo record by one of the most trusted bassists in the world of adventurous pop and rock music. When he is not playing with Marker Starling, the former Batsch member can be heard on upright and double bass on a slew of Baby Dee albums like her 2012 collaboration LP with Little Annie or Laetitia Sadier's Find Me Finding You (2017), amongst others. When Carvell is not busy as an active member of the cumbia band Malphino and the Moondog tribute I'm This I'm That, or playing improvised jazz with various friends, he writes Pink Shabab songs at night. With Ema By The Sea, he presents his idiosyncratic approach to subtle disco music for the first time. These nine songs sound as heartbroken as they are uplifting. Ema By The Sea was written in a South London bedroom, but recorded in Southern France. After hearing Carvell perform live as Pink Shabab, Emmanuel Mario, whose album L'infini, L'Univers Et Les Mondes under his Astrobal moniker was released earlier in 2019 on the Berlin-based Karaoke Kalk (KK 112CD/LP), invited the British songwriter into his home studio. It is easy to see -- or rather: hear -- why the two hit it off immediately: drawing on funk, soul, new wave, jazz, and dance music, Carvell's songs meander as effortlessly through different musical worlds as Mario's own productions. Groovy and laid-back, danceable and intimate, the minimalist structures of Carvell's songwriting open up a lot of space and make room for plenty of surprises along the way. Carvell builds his songs around his instrument of choice, the bass. From the driving opener "If Only I Could Hold You One More Time" to the disco and funk influenced "Let Me Explain", "Tried To Tell You", or "Last Of The Boys" and the somber rhythms of the final song "You Can't Go Back", his cunning playing seamlessly oscillates between different styles. In combination with his almost coy singing style and the juxtaposition of an airtight drum programming with colorful synthesizer melodies, Ema By The Sea thus provides a wide-ranging palette of moods -- spooky, lively, cosmic, romantic, you name it. Where in one moment pensive sentimentality prevails, the next song will call you to the dancefloor. Ema By The Sea offers both melancholy and exuberant bliss.
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