Charalambides to me symbolise everything that is positive and innovative about the broad church of maverick outsiders, artists, musicians and hangers on grouped together under the New Weird America banner.

Originally from Houston, Texas they take their name form the surname of a Greek cusomer of the Record Exchange store where Tom & Christina Carter met. Although the Carter duo are no longer married (geographically seperated on the East & West coasts respectively) their close musical bond thankfully continues to flourish.

They are rightly heralded as one of the key bands of the Free-Folk movement even though they were in existence long before that label was coined by Matt Valentine in 2003.
Over the course of more than 20 releases, Charalambides have honed their sound into an openly expressionistic style that packs an emotional punch without resorting to clichéd rock riffs or false histrionics. In fact many of their tracks are barely identifiable as songs at all but instead have a blissful abstract quality which creates a mood of meditative calm. Set you controls for the heart of the soul if you will.
Their ‘official’ new release is on the ever reliable home of the drone label Kranky and a worthy follow up to the majestic ‘Vintage Burden’ of a couple of years back. This is certainly more accessible than Electricity Ghost – there even words you can hear particularly on the tracks ‘Good Life’ and Hitch Up My Pony’. The latter is their most lyrically expansive track to date with a kind of motorik beat tailored for horseriding rather that cruisng down the Autobahn. Needless to say, the lyrics are not of the “do it to me baby all night long” variety as we’re still very much out exploring on a higher plain.