The For Carnation

The seeds for The For Carnation album were sewn in Louisville, Kentucky during the spring of '97, at the home of Britt Walford. There, several months of improvising and collaboration between Walford and vocalist/keyboardist Brian McMahan, bassist Todd Cook (Shipping News) and guitarist Michael McMahan, led to development of a uniquely dynamic, minimalist-informed, yet R&B-inspired music clearly distinguishable from previously related group efforts (i.e; Slint). Rehearsal tapes made during this period provided the resulting core group (Cook and the McMahan brothers) with a significant body of rough material- work that would, over time, suggest a distinct evolution in the efforts of the TFC collective.

A year later, in Los Angeles, a reinforced line-up began the process of sifting through and adding to this material. With Bobb Bruno (guitar, sampler, keyboards), and Steve Goodfriend (drums), the new five-piece took up where the original group had left off, allowing jams to incubate and take shape as fully realized songs. Determined to create a warm, synthetically detailed sound that would complement the new material, the band recruited John McEntire as co-producer for the album, which was finished in Chicago, during July of '99.

The result is a 6-song, 45 minute, self-titled release intended for mature music fans. Holding true to The For Carnation tradition of narrative emphasis and dark musical tone, the five vocal compositions and single instrumental represented here strive to induce a meditative, transformative energy within the listener. Using subtly shifting, repeated patterns to remind us of the tentative nature of human consciousness, TFC hopes with this record to both enlighten and entertain.