"Carina Round"
"Carina Round"
Carina Round is a British singer/songwriter who hails from Wolverhampton. She was born in 1979 in the Low Hill area of the city and grew up listening to her turntable given to her for her fifth birthday. Coming from Italian stock, at 21 she put out The First Blood Mystery and three years later, she released The Disconnection to a fair amount of critical acclaim. Comparisons are frequently drawn to PJ Harvey, though Round would contend that she is more directly influenced by Patti Smith.
In the summer of ‘96, following a gig in a basement acoustic club in Wolverhampton, Carina was given a three-night support at Ronnie Scott's club in Birmingham. This led to support slots with the likes of David Gray, Miles Hunt, Ben Christophers, Mark Eitzel, Cousteau, Elbow, I am Kloot, Turin Brakes, Ed Harcourt and Ryan Adams, who after she supported him in Birmingham, invited her to be his guest at his London shows. At these shows, they again performed their co-written song "Idiots Dance" and "Come Pick Me Up" as encores. The following months saw Carina joined by Simon Smith on double-bass, Marcus Galley on drums and guitarist Tom Livemore. Their first gig together was a special one-off supporting Coldplay at the Birmingham Songwriters Festival.
This band recorded debut album The First Blood Mystery at Magic Garden Studios with friend and producer Gavin Monaghan. The album was recorded and mixed in ten days, and released in the UK through Animal Noise in 2001. Carina then toured the UK with Glenn Tilbrook.
She returned in 2003 with The Disconnection, again recorded at Magic Garden Studios with Gavin Monaghan. The album was released in the UK with a cover shot by Anoushka Fisz (wife of Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics who supported her since), then released in 2004 with a different, less disturbing cover photo, on Interscope in the US. The album garnered comparisons to Bjork, Jeff Buckley and Robert Plant. Carina promoted The Disconnection with a tour of the UK in late 2003, and another tour in January 2004. This was followed by a month-long tour of the US before returning to the UK for another tour with Damien Dempsey and James Blunt.
Round moved to LA in 2005 to produce Slow Motion Addict with Glen Ballard and featured a more accessible, electronic-embellished sound. The album's release was delayed by a full year, but was eventually released in the US in 2007. Carina has was chosen as Annie Lennox' support act for her recent US tour, which was followed by dates in the UK in late 2007, early 2008. The internet radio station KGRL featured her as their “Flower-Powered Artist” for August 2007