Floreat.
Tipped to be nominated for next years Mercury music prize, this long awaited follow-up to Mara Carlyle's plaid-produced debut of 2004 (on matthew herbert's accidental label) finally got it's release this September. Having fallen victim to terra firma's takeover of EMI, the album was shelved in 2008 with no sign of future release, but after protracted legal negotiations with EMI, Carlyle regained the rights to the album and, once her track Pianni, was featured in the IKEA "Happy Inside" television commercial last year (the one with the cats), the opportunity arose for her to set about releasing Floreat.
Originally called Nuzzle, Floreat is written and arranged by Mara herself whilst producer Dan Carey (Hot Chip, The Kills, La Roux) adds pop flourish and there are contributions from the royal philharmonic orchestra. She samples and re works classical and contemporary pieces with an expanding orchestration (Bowlface En Provence), near hip-hop style arrangements (Away With Those Self-Loving Lads) and, on The Devil and Me, piano-led jazz ballads.
Carlyle's first recorded appearance was on the Plaid album Not For Threes (Warp Records, 1997). She subsequently sang on Plaid's next two albums, Rest Proof Clockwork (1999) and Double Figure (2001). Having sung on Matthew Herbert's big band album Goodbye Swingtime (2003), Carlyle signed to Herbert's label, Accidental Records. After receiving critical acclaim for The Lovely, Carlyle signed to EMI in 2007. December 2008 saw the release of Classist, a collaboration with composer Max de Wardener under the name "Max de Mara". Carlyle contributed four tracks adapted from Handel, Purcell, Walford Davies and Jacques Offenbach. The album was a limited edition of 333 copies available through Stanley Donwood's Six Inch Records.
Floreat is available in a very limited number of places, and the album is near to selling out in hard copy. Get yours while you can.