Lo Carmen & The Great Beyond resurrect swamp psych-blues garage howler ‘Half Girl Half Beast’, a subterranean ode to primal desires.
‘Raw, wild, possessed by independence and heavy, “Half Girl Half Beast” is the eerie, ominous and wonderful brand-new single from Sydney, New South Wales-based polymath Lo Carmen.’ The Autumn Roses
'gloriously dreamy and swampy.... slithers from the swamp in a sultry and ghostly crawl – part CCR, part Gun Club and Screaming Jay Hawkins, there’s a snaking blues mist running through the psych garage song with its ominous backbeat and some superb exotica Hammond organ courtesy of the legendary Peter Head. Draped in reverb, the song dials perfectly into a kind of Halloween noir, with Carmen seeking to balance the internal forces of good and evil, prim and primal' Doubtful Sounds
With this release, Lo Carmen reunites with the musicians that form the newly minted The Great Beyond - Ken Gormly (Cruel Sea), Cec Condon (Mess Hall) and Sam Worrad (Holy Soul) along with her father Peter Head laying down the wild oceanic Hammond grooves, in a sound reminiscent of what he played at the burlesque club where he had his first job, accompanying the strippers as a teenager in the 1960s!
Their last recording together was 2015’s distinctive album ‘Everyone You Ever Knew (Is Coming Back To Haunt You)’.
Recorded by Tristen Bird at Palomino Sound Recorders, Myponga SA.
lyrics
My eyes are ringed with darkness
My body’s black and blue
I ain’t been getting any sleep
And its all because of you
I’m half girl, half girl half beast
Half of me is girl
But the rest of me is beast
You keep me up at nighttime
You keep me down all day
And when I try to walk
I find I kinda sway
I’m half girl, half girl half beast
Half of me is girl
But the rest of me is beast
I can’t escape this
And I’m scared to the bone
This thing that’s taken me over
Well its got a life of its own
I’m half girl, half girl half beast
Half of me is girl
But the rest of me is beast
I feel diseased
Infected by desire
When I shut my eyes
I hear this heavenly choir
I’m half girl half beast
Half of me is girl
But the rest of me is beast
I’m drowning in here baby
I’m going down slow
There’s pain and then relief
Thats all I know
I’m half girl half beast
Half of me is girl
But the rest of me is beast
credits
released October 28, 2022
Lo Carmen - guitar, vox
Sam Worrad - guitar
Cec Condon - drums
Ken Gormly - bass
Peter Head - Hammond organ
Recorded and mixed by Tristen Bird at Palomino Sound Recorders, Myponga SA
With every genre defying record she releases; equal parts rolling narratives and slow burning supernatural sounds, Lo
Carmen's reputation as a lyrical heavyweight continues to build. Her impeccably penned songs offer a compelling authenticity and fearlessness, carving out a true cosmic musical niche for herself....more
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