You know what you’re in for when you see the words “Christina Carter” or “Tom Carter” on a new slab of vinyl or coded disc. The odds are good that you’re in for a treat of a listen, and the goods are going to be an odd treat, so the listen will stick with you for a long time. When you have the two names together, returning with their first Charalambides album in many years, you know the treat is going to reek of quality.
The sweet smell of finesse is all over the welcome return of Charalambides. The latest from Tom and Christina Carter is entitled, simply, Tom and Christina Carter, and it hits all eager ears on October 12 via Drawing Room Records. Available digitally and as a double LP(!), Charalambides’ Tom and Christina Carter was recorded in Houston in 2017, sans edits or overdubs, allowing the duo’s “spontaneous songs to remain absolutely unadorned.” If this ace news wasn’t enough, we have the great pleasure of premiering a track from the forthcoming album today called “True Love.”
Years back, when others were trying to say something big, Charalambides were making you think and feel something big, every time out (which seemed like every couple of weeks). Carter and Carter’s latest has the same beautiful, dippy warmth, moving with such freedom that you can’t help but give all your attention to the album’s story unfolding before your ears. Speaking about the loose incantation “True Love”, Christina Carter addressed its creation, in relation to the instinctual “feeling” intended and the unexpected “thinking” that resulted:
Two ideas were important for the songs that made it to this album: rhythm and repetition, not necessarily together…This particular track (“True Love”) was recorded in the last of three recording sessions. Tom pushed this song to be rhythmic. I just tried to keep an open mind and ride on top of it and feel instead of think. Later it came to me that I was thinking along with feeling. I was thinking about that mysterious period of my life, early adolescence, when I was so afraid but also brave and so many things were about to be made to happen.
Pre-order the album here and listen to “True Love” below while you scan the tracklist and scrutinize the duo’s upcoming tour schedule. Odd are you’ll find the goods more than a treat.
Tom and Christina Carter tracklisting:
01. Runaway
02. True Love
03. Midnight
04. Life and Death
05. Gone
06. Proper
Charalambides live:
09.28.18 - New Orleans, LA - Allways Lounge
09.29.18 - Birmingham, AL - TBD
10.01.18 - Lexington, KY - 21c Museum Hotel
10.02.18 - Columbus, OH - Dirty Dungarees
10.03.18 - Detroit, MI - Trinosophesue
10.04.18 - Chicago, IL - The Owl
10.05.18 - Louisville, KY - Cropped Out at American Turners Club Rd.
10.07.18 - New York, NY - Artist Space
10.08.18 - Washington, DC - Rhizome
10.09.18 - Philadelphia, PA - Vox Populit
10.10.18 - Greenfield, MA - Root Cellar
10.11.18 - Montréal, QC - Vitrola
10.12.18 - Toronto, ON - Array Space
10.13.18 - Cleveland, OH - Mahall’s
10.14.18 - Toledo, OH - Robinwood Concert House
10.15.18 - Milwaukee, WI - Boone & Crockett
10.16.18 - Madison, WI - Arts and Literature Lab
10.17.18 - Minneapolis, MI - Hexagon
10.18.18 - Iowa City, IA - Trumpet Blossom Cafe
10.19.18 - St Louis, MO - Schlafly Tap Room
11.09.18 - London, UK - Café OTO
11.24.18 - Brighton, UK - The Rose Hill
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