The Sound of Carpet - Various Assassinations

The Sound of Carpet 

Various Assassinations
self-released; 2016

3.9 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

The Sound Of Carpet is a collaboration between Jason Petrovitch and Randa Eid. The duo went to work and released Various Assassinations. 

Right off the bat I enjoyed the singing style. It’s dynamic with lots of emotion and has a palatable quality. The music isn’t too shabby either. It doesn't contain the most innovative grooves this year but still has some inspired moments. Petrovitch mixes elements of rock, funk and synthpop that is a suitable palette to lay some vocals over. 

The production is completely DIY. I’d say it’s a step above lo-fi but it doesn’t have that sparkle you can hear from a professional studio. Overall, a good sound quality where you could appreciate the songs.

The vocals and music contains some catchy melodies. Along with that are lyrics that I found avoided typical cliches. Take for instance the opening track “Stop The Flow.” The song has a quirky groove that reminded me of Ariel Pink and the off-kilter lyrics fit the mood. Eld sings “Hack off something that you know can heal and then you might just live for a week or more and if at any other time you feel cause to go. Then it might help kill the taste when you kiss the floor.”

Some of the lyrics are quite poignant despite the music feeling upbeat. On “Hey Daddy” Eid sings “Hey daddy you never really had me / You want me so bad but you should / Pray daddy I hid it well but sadly / It's starting to show.” “Hey Daddy” was a highlight. The next song that got my attention was “Molt.” Just a killer song but the vocal performance is stellar here. 

“Pay No Mind” is a fast, fun song with a punk vibe while “protocol” is short but sweet synth pop that contains another exceptional vocal performance. As the album progressed “Another World” was the other track that stood out.

​My one piece of advice here would be to have the production quality be a little more consistent next time around. Some songs did seem to be mixed better than others.

Overall, I really enjoyed this duo. The songwriting was consistently good, the vocalist is great and it was an album you don’t have to work too hard to enjoy.

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