Single review: Erland & The Carnival – The Derby Ram
There are an awful lot of folk bands around at the moment, most of whom seem to focus on the more dreamy wistful side. Erland & the Carnival on the other hand take a rockier, and in the case of this, the latest single to be taken from their eponymous debut album, a much darker approach. For ‘The Derby Ram’ they have taken a traditional English folk song, originally a comical tale about a Ram of gargantuan proportions and the problems involved in butchering it, and adapted it into the sad and shocking modern tale of the suicide of Shaun Dykes.
Dykes was 17 years old when he jumped to his death from the roof a city centre car park in 2008. The most shocking part of the story is that he was egged on and filmed using mobile phones by a baying crowd of shoppers below who had gathered to watch and shout abuse at him. The lyrics to ‘The Derby Ram’, all of which were taken from an article in the Telegraph, are formed around quotes from friends, the local constabulary, the vicar and social services. Rather than taking a stance on the story, Erland & The Carnival stick to the facts, just telling it as it happened.
An unusual song with an uncomfortable subject matter but a great example of why Erland and The Carnival are making such waves and a great advert for their debut album. 4/5
Mark Cousens
Out 20th September on Full Time Hobby
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