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"The Glass Bottom Boat" Reviews:
Boomkat: "A close point of reference would be Hood ... the title track ... features an Espers-style dark folk theme, largely thanks to the Meg Baird-alike vocals by Sarah Bell. As the song gathers steam ... a unfolding sense of shoegaze texture builds up, distancing the whole affair from its initially quite rustic beginnings, until by its end there's screeching distortion flying about all over the place." The Deli SF: "Carta's Glass Bottom Boat is an extremely well crafted work of instrumental music. " The Silent Ballet: "like a plot-twisting film or novel identifiable by its lush characters, the album offers a whirlpool of listening experiences over time, each one laced with the promise of a new discovery." All Music Guide: "...like many fine bands before it -- Joy Division, Low, Mogwai among others -- Carta seeks to use rock band instrumentation to emphasize reflective mood rather than simply traditional performance. Unlike many other predominantly instrumental rock acts of recent years, though, Carta are blessedly free of the go-nowhere dullardry that ended up giving post-rock a bad name -- the group's songs are all miniature portraits that benefit from careful variation within a generally propulsive structure." Angry Ape: "the nine instrumentals and one vocal based track featured here have brought some much needed colour and warmth to these cold, unfeeling winter months." Opuszine: "If there’s perhaps one word that I can use to describe Carta’s music on The Glass Bottom Boat, it would be “pure”. Whether it’s the focus on honest-to-God songwriting (rather than simply trying to create set-ups for yet another epic, apocalyptic climax) or the lack of reliance on such things as guitar effects to communicate emotion, there’s a sense of purity and simplicity, and of solid craftsmanship throughout the album." Norman Records: "Moody and smoky it's an album for a hot bath as it builds with aural textures and shoegazy crescendos." Foxy Digitalis: "“The Glass Bottom Boat” is still an excellent piece of (largely) instrumental music with deep layers of sound and complex arrangements. Carta gives the listener a lot of good reasons to take notice of their music and this album will no doubt continue to unfold with each visit." Babysue: "Substantial and thoroughly rewarding, this is a beautiful album that will surely stand the test of time ... Very nice cerebral thought provoking stuff... (Rating: 5+)" Black and White Mag (Canada): "This is a very meticulous debut, and the atmosphere it creates is gigantic. For fans of Below The Sea, Bark Psychosis, Charles Atlas and Coastal. 8.6" Gaz-eta (Poland): "With each number, the band gathers strength that is subdued, and quietly thrilling. Let's hope more still persuasions are in the works from Carta." Electronic Desert: "10 tracks long and yet another success for this consistent label." A song of ours was featured on the NPR podcast "Open Mic" which you can still hear here Carta was featured as "band of the week" in mid-March 2007 on the The Silent Ballet website Here is a jittery video of us, shot by the talented Leanne Maxwell |