Eclecticism is a common trait for artists wanting to stretch their musical boundaries. Known for their mostly instrumental, jazz-fusion albums, Carnivorous Plant Society (multi-instrumentalist Finn Scholes, drummer Alastair Deverick, bassist Cass Basil, guitarist Tam Scholes, and violinist / singer Siobhanne Thompson) are one such group of eclectic musicians, drawing together threads from jazz, indie pop, mariachi brass and Kiwi electronica, creating a distinctive sound in the process.
The band’s third album brings in some well-known vocalists, with Hollie Fullbrook (Tiny Ruins), Don McGlashan, Lawrence Arabia, and Hayden Eastmond contributing their own talents to the Society’s sounds.
‘The New King’ takes a couple of listens to get inside its skin, but unpeeling the layers reveals experimentation in rhythms, textures and instrumentation, with a foray into seductive rhythms on Dry Spell.
Music also plays a role as backdrop to some occasionally strange, short, spoken word stories that somehow paint sound pictures to reflect the content.
As a predominantly instrumental record ‘The New King’ focuses on musical instrumentation, and how the textures weave together, although when Lawrence Arabia’s vocals appear on the strange, slinky, loungey It Has One Eye, it seems a natural fit.
‘The New King’ is an often-entrancing cornucopia of sounds, mixing the beautiful and the off-kilter, creating something totally unique in the process.
