Artist: Carla Bozulich
Title: Evangelista
Format: LP
Label: Constellation
Catalogue Number: CST041
Year of Release: 2006
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Tracklisting
A1 Evangelista I
A2 Steal Away
A3 How To Survive Being Hit By Lightning
A4 Inside Sleeps
A5 Prince Of The World
B1 Baby, That's The Creeps
B2 Pissing
B3 Nels' Box
B4 Evangelista II
I've commented before on how, when buying records directly from record labels, you often get some extras thrown in. With Constellation this is doubly true:
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Constellation Records is, of course, the Canadian label of Godspeed You Black Emperor, A Silver Mt. Zion, etc. and some of the members of those bands also appear on this release, which would have been my principal reason for purchase.
The Godspeed influence is clear from the long opening number, and title track, Evangelista I. The guitar drone and bells are almost lifted wholesale from f#a#∞, as is the random clanking and clatter of sound, what's new is the female vocal. Carla's delivery sits apart from all the noise, and she has an unusual style of delivery - part shriek, part hysterical chant. I wanted to add on '... all woman' there as a cheeky gag, but fear it might seem flippant and dismissive. But I do want to make a serious point about the female perspective that Carla clearly inhabits. There's raw emotion at work, and the kind of in-your-face emoting that makes the more introverted of us want to cringe. I can imagine people who really, like, connect, with this song. But I don't. It makes think, "Please don't leave me alone with this woman".
There's nothing to match this vocal performance on the rest of the album, but it dominates the first side, and indeed the feel of the whole record. The remainder of Side A contains the country-tinged traditional tune Steal Away, featuring some nice cello work; love song How To Survive Being Hit By Lightning, which barely hangs together around some static and one repeated guitar chord; then two very short closing pieces.
Baby, That's the Creeps opens Side B with church organ and more shouty vocal delivery, but becomes calmer and less distraught over time. The highlight for me was the cover of Low's Pissing which follows - a fairly faithful rendition, but with a feeling of inviting round everyone you know to play something over the final section. There's a piece of looped-noise filler after that, and the last part of Evangelista, which turns out to be a gentle ballad.
If you like Bat For Lashes, imagine her old and bitter, and there's a rough idea of what this sounds like. Personally I think Bat For Lashes are pretentious and massively overrated, with all the emotional depth, songwriting ability, and dress sense of cuttlefish.
We saw Carla live at Henry's in Edinburgh, with support from local band Gas Giant and Chris Corsano in 2006. Gas Giant did the kind of post-rock thing that was popular about ten years ago. They did it well enough, it was just out of date. Chris Corsano was simply amazing. Often, at a jazz gig, the drummer's solo can make or break it for me. A good jazz drummer should make you crack a smile and shake your head in astonishment. Chris Corsano played drums for about 30 minutes, with a keyboard strapped to his calf, a microphone for vocals (often actually in his mouth), and sax mouthpiece. It was the best thing I have seen live in ages. I bought a record from him afterwards, and he was a thoroughly nice bloke.
Carla knelt on the floor, made noises with her guitar, and howled. We left. There was a backing band, and by all accounts they were a bit pretentious too.
