LISTEN + STORE + NEWS + MEDIA + PODCAST + LICENSING + STUDIO + CONTACT

Kerry Kelekovich and Cath Carroll during the making of The Gondoliers Of Ghost Lake

Former Factory Records artist, Cath Carroll, and Chicago-based musician/engineer, Kerry Kelekovich, began working together in 1994, opening for alternative-noir trio, Morphine, and continuing to tour together as part of the TeenBeat Circus Tour from San Francisco to Phoenix in October of that year.

The pair produced the album "True Crime Motel" (TeenBeat 1995), recording the critically praised collection at Thunderclap Recording in Hammond, Indiana with Beatleplex, their Circus Tour band. At Christmas '96, the couple married in Glasgow, Scotland. They continued to record and perform under the Cath Carroll banner creating an album released in 2000 showcasing their first, true collaboration.

After playing SXSW 2001 to promote "Glommer" (the privately-dubbed collection released by Lilypad via Heart & Soul Records as "Cath Carroll" in 2000), they went on to write and release, "The Gondoliers Of Ghost Lake" via English label, LTM Records in November of 2002.

The duo's work together spans a 16 year collaboration with their final song -- "Moon Over Archway" -- released digitally on Record Store Day 2010 (April 17) via Lilypad Records.

 

LTM RECORDS BIO FOR CATH:

Catherine Ryecroft was born August 25, 1960 in Bristol and raised in Swansea, Ipswich and finally, her family hometown of Manchester.

In late 1989, Cath relocated to Chicago and EMM was finally released in June 1991. Cath's status as an indie cult figure was affirmed by DC band Unrest, who included the quirky tribute Cath Carroll on their 1993 4AD album Perfect Teeth. Main man Mark Robinson's appreciation lead to two singles for his Teenbeat label, My Cold Heart and Bad Star, as well as the second Cath Carroll solo album, True Crime Motel, released in 1995. In 1994 Cath began recording with Kerry Kelekovich, a Chicago-based musician and engineer whom she married in 1996. TCM marked a return to guitars, and the album was a critical success, with the word noir frequently aired in describing the shadowy lyrical undertow and understated vocal delivery.

This became the eponymous Cath Carroll, which appeared in 2000. The pair's first real collaboration, both contributed equally to the writing, while Kerry handled all of the playing and production. The album appeared on their own Lilypad label and was described by one reviewer as a blend of Astrud Gilberto and Roxy Music, and by another as a shadowy corner of the adult pop universe.

In 2002 Cath and Kerry completed a new album, The Gondoliers of Ghost Lake. Written and produced in her adopted home town of Chicago, standout tracks include The Divine Miss A (Morrissey meets the Kinks in tribute to transgendered Mancunian), Free (post 60s mystical rock), Man Goes Down the Highway (rarified folk-dub, on the same continuum as Luscious Jackson and Pulsillama) and the infectious Mystified (romping dance-pop with a latin underpin). -James Nice/LTM Records (2004)

The Gondoliers Of Ghost Lake , a fourteen track collection of new originals November 11. 2002 on LTM Records worldwide (11/12/02 in the US).

Q Magazine

On her fourth solo effort, co-writer husband Kerry Kelekovich's moody guitar textures and flat electronic beats discreetly light her diaphanous waft of a voice and songs which slip along reality's edge, questioning everything. Her key character, in Man Goes Down The Highway, is always "at the point of finding out what it all means". Think Twin Peaks, even The Blair Witch Project, minus screams and corpses.

Uncut

Cath Carroll possesses an extraordinary voice, sensuous and dreamy and capable of uniting diverse influences with a cool grace, here acid-folk, Smiths-esque pop, hippie rock and Latino club romps are blessed with her hypnotic understatement and literate guile. This is grown-up pop resounding with heartfelt warmth and steely seriousness.

Time Out New York

Carroll has stuck around Chicago, quietly recording with her husband, multi-instrumentalist Kerry Kelekovich, and writing about music (she's a TONY contributor). The album is Carroll's best since her Factory days, and her most musically adventurous: There's a rich palette of shuffling electro loops, spooky atmospherics and funhouse psychedelia dappled with bright acoustic guitar. May these recordings, old and new, bring Cath Carroll the audience that's long been her due.

mundanesounds.com

Of course, special mention should be made of Carroll's husband, producer Kerry Kelekovich, because his backing work is just as much a part of what's made Gondoliers a beautiful record. His musical abilities and production skills have given Carroll a full-band backing, when in fact he was the only musician backing her up in the studio! Brilliant production.

Tangents

Finally then, there's Cath Carroll and her new album for LTM, The Gondoliers of Ghost Lake. Once again working in collaboration with her husband Kerry Kelekovich, Cath shows us what a fine touch she has for effortlessly merging and blending styles and influences into something that sounds both contemporary and timeless all at once. The influences are perhaps more subtly hinted at here than on, say, her recently reissued 1991 debut England Made Me, but nevertheless, there's a grand mix of Latin, folk, dub, psych-rock and even bluegrass seeping out of this album. Standouts for me would be 'Free', with it's hints at '60s psych-soft-pop and rock; 'The Divine Miss A.' which tells the tale of a transgendered Mancunian at the turn of the '70s/'80s and which comes over all Kinks meets Madonna via Morrissey; the eerie sophisticated folk-dub of 'Man Goes Down The Highway' that you could play next to Luscious Jackson and not find out of place; the upbeat romp of 'Mystified' that frolics around the grey streets draping coloured garlands from the lampposts, dreaming of Brazilian sunsets. This is an accomplished and memorable album that will only continue to grow in stature with repeated listenings. I recommend you pick it up at the first opportunity.