Natalie Merchant - Carnival

When Natalie Merchant released her debut solo album Tigerlily in 1995 it was evident that the loss of her former group 10000 Maniacs wouldn't be as hard to accept than what we'd previously thought. The record didn't so much stake out a new direction for Merchant as simply pointing a bit further ahead from where she left off with the Maniacs. Lead single "Carnival" is a real stunner, sounding as fresh now as it did upon its release 17 years ago. This is the edited version which is two minutes shorter than the album track, but with a beautifully shot video showing Merchant walking the streets of New York shooting pictures with a Leica M3 camera.

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