April 17, 2008

Small, curvy, speeding cars and the Napoli sunshine

Sometimes a song sneaks up on you and surprises you with the way it insinuates entire cinescapes in your mind. That picture above belongs with another film, but it is a vague representation of the colors, the era, the intrigue that this song conjures up for me.

Circus of Horror – Quiet Village

I cannot figure why this song is called Circus of Horror, as there is no sense of carnival and nothing scary about it. Clowns and elephants could be the farthest thing from my mind when this tune cues up. Instead, this seems a perfect soundtrack to a forgotten ’60s Italian spy movie — a little campy but sleek, ready for some fast driving down narrow cobbled streets. Or perhaps you can hear a change of locales with a dash of cool saunter down the Miami waterline, scoping out the sinister antagonist.

British duo Quiet Village claim influences that range from “Italian film soundtracks, BBC library music, disco edits, acid rock, vintage soul and easy listening.” On this song I find them extremely reminiscent of Irishman David Holmes’ fantastic soundtracks (the Oceans 11 series, or my favorite Out of Sight), with their sense of ineffable charm and air of coolness, but also the Latin and calypso undertones that emit an undercurrent of heat.

This bolt-from-the-blue find that just made my evening; their full-length album Silent Movie is out May 13th on K7,

[much obliged to MFR for pointing this out]

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4 Comments

  • Hi,
    really nice blog you have here =)
    keep the good work.

    your friend from Portugal =)

    Jeremias o-fora-da-lei — April 18, 2008 @ 5:12 am

  • Very interesting sound. Like it a lot! Another new group that has taken me by surprise is Back Door Slam. Fantastic sound!

    ss — April 18, 2008 @ 12:53 pm

  • I think I need to purchase an Aston Martin immediately, and maybe driving gloves.

    KT — April 18, 2008 @ 4:45 pm

  • it’s funny actually, cos the picture thats conjured in my head is two cops out on the beat in san fran and a bullitt-esque car chase down the hills

    Daithí — April 20, 2008 @ 8:26 am

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Bio Pic Name: Heather Browne
Location: Colorado, originally by way of California
Giving context to the torrent since 2005.

"I love the relationship that anyone has with music: because there's something in us that is beyond the reach of words, something that eludes and defies our best attempts to spit it out. It's the best part of us, probably, the richest and strangest part..."
—Nick Hornby, Songbook
"Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel."
—Hunter S. Thompson

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