| Artist: | Carptree |
| Title: | Man Made Machine |
| Label: | Inside Out IO.. |
| Length(s): | minutes |
| Year(s) of release: | 2005 |
| Month of review: | [11/2005] |
| 1) | Titans Clash Aggressively To Keep An Even Score | 5.30 |
| 2) | Sunshine Waters | 5.48 |
| 3) | The Weakening Sound | 6.23 MP3 |
| 4) | Tilting The Scales | 6.52 |
| 5) | The Man You Just Became | 5.17 |
| 6) | Man Made Machine | 6.18 |
| 7) | Burn To Something New | 5.58 |
| 8) | In The Centre Of An Empty Space | 5.34 |
| 9) | The Recipe | 2.32 |
| 10) | This Is Home | 8.17 |
Sunshine Waters is more an acousticy affair, but again the band sweeps me off my feet with a magnificent theme on piano. The song also shows again that Carptree is less a progrock band than a pop band with a weird (proogy if you like) edge, but what a songwriter Westholm is. Again, the backing choirs are wonderfully effective, and where another band would put the guitar solo at the front, that will not happen here.
The Weakening Sound is a more melancholy effort, opening with tragic piano and vocal lines. It slowly builds, slowly builds until the washes mellotron comes in and removes all doubt. There are some modern classical influences to be felt here, especially in the somewhat ethereal vocals. You may compare this to the Genesis track on Alan Parsons' I Robot. Although less 'over the top' I am also reminded quite a bit of Steve Harley (remember Sebastian?).
Tilting The Scales is something else again. After an acousticy intro, we enter a catchy phase with vocoded vocals. This part is so distinctive, that it immediately catches the ear. The vocals revolve around in the higher regions, and sounding a bit fragile because of that, but the music is very down to earth, quite forceful in fact with some excellent driving drumming. The guitar line is also great, while the keyboard melody lines sometimes remind of Tony Banks. The harmony vocal parts at the end are vey pop like, you might be reminded of the Beatles period of Tears For Fears here, in fact the overall feel in the louder parts strongly resembles Sowing The Seeds Of Love.
The Man You Just Became opens with synth strings, indeed we are very much in soundtrack territory here. But there are vocals. The vocal line is more spoken than sung, a bit musical like. The female vocals are more in the line of Karda Estra, and on the whole this song is by comparison to the first four songs a bit 'ordinary'. And let's be realistic: could we expect them to keep it up an album long? Don't get me wrong: I do like the song.
Man Made Machine has a bit of an industrial feel, similar to say Genesis' The Brazilian. The percussion is quite pervasive. There is something strongly Kayak like about this song, like Trust In The Machine or They Get To Know Me.
What kind of lyrics can you expect on Burn To Something New? We open with a driving rhythm guitar over keyboards. I am reminded of the instrumental bombast of Mastermind here, with some excellent themes. But the vocals do come in and we get a powerful waltzy chorus, that is easy to singalong with, but certainly not brainless because of it.
In The Centre Of An Empty Space is an up-beat song, with a somewhat Oriental feel. It turns out that this is one of the more forceful tracks with heavy guitars and vocal eruptions. It is also one of the more fickle tunes and makes the label progrock certainyl a deserved one. Think It Bites here. And don't forget the all-out keyboard sequence.
The Recipe is time for a bit of Carptree-lite. A bit of a jolly tune, slow and bouncy. The sound is somewhat Beatlesque.
This Is Home is the longest track on the album. It quickly becomes a powerful tune, with a good drive. Again, an easy to remember tune (of epic proportions) with both up-beat parts and melancholy parts, all strung together in a way that sounds nothing less than natural. A worthy conclusion, just listen to that anthemic closing section.