NEW ALBUMS
THE SOUNDCARRIERS
Wilds PHOSPHONIC
Hauntologists increasingly more than their influences.
By Wyndham Wallace
Wild style: The Soundcarriers in the studio
8/10
IT’S unfortunate that The Soundcarriers are so identified with ‘hauntology’, the term coined by Simon Reynolds to describe what he referred to as “ghostified” music. While it’s unquestionably invited and warranted, this emphasis on the Nottingham band’s expertise at evoking a bygone era, as well as the technical manner in which they do so, focuses the spotlight on their historical influences. Prioritising style over their substance does the quartet few favours, however, because it makes it harder to think of them as a ‘living’ band. The reality is that while they may raise ghosts from the past – among them producers from the 1960s and early 1970s such as Joe Meek, David Axelrod and Serge Gainsbourg –The Soundcarriers are considerably more substantial than they are spectral.