7/10
There are albums you listen to, and then there are albums that grab you by the jaw, drag you through the underbelly of some forgotten town, and dare you to come out the other side changed. 'A Carnival of Reveries', the latest creation from Until They Burn Me (the long-running partnership of Cody Carlyle and Travis Jordan), is unmistakably the latter.
Across three decades of playing together, this duo have distilled their musical bond into something feral, lived-in, and utterly unpredictable. The result is a record that feels like rummaging through an antique trunk of cursed artefacts, where each song is tinted with dust, danger, and the sweat of a thousand unspoken stories. You’re met with Americana with a crooked grin, punk with dirt under its fingernails, and folk that’s been sharpened on a back-alley blade.
The album’s greatest triumph lies in its atmosphere. From the moment the first track 'Dark & Deep' flickers to life, you’re dropped into a dreamscape that smells like swamp water, candle wax, and whiskey spilled in a séance. It sways between noir theatre and roadside sermon, moving from haunted back-porch picking to full-bodied grit that could raise the dead, or at least wake every ghost in shouting distance.
Each track feels like its own short film. One minute you’re wandering a dimly lit carnival tent with shadows that move a little too slowly; the next, you’re dancing around a campfire as banjos and battered drums throb like a heartbeat out of sync. Their storytelling channels a mix of folklore and urban grit, with lyrics that flirt with madness, mythology, and the darker corners of human nature.
What truly hits is how organic the whole record feels. There’s no forced polish or sterilised edges. Just raw chemistry between two musicians who know each other’s instincts down to the bone.
'A Carnival of Reveries' is an immersive experience built for those who crave artistry with a pulse. It’s dirty, poetic, cinematic, and unhinged in all the right ways. This is the sound of two lifetimes of collaboration channelled into one beautifully warped, utterly compelling piece of work.
