Carta began as a bedroom recording project in 2002 by Kyle Monday,
Jason Perez, and an assortment of San Francisco musicians. Ambient
instrumental songs developed organically from looped guitar melodies,
which also served as metronomes in the absence of a drummer. As
members joined and left, the desire to perform the songs in another
setting arose, so the duo formed a band with bassist Ray Welter honed a set of material for live shows, including some songs with vocals (supplied by contributing keyboardist Sarah Bell).
In 2005 the band began recording the album "The Glass Bottom Boat"
with engineer Eli Crews (of Beulah). The album features contributions from keyboardist Jared Matt Greenberg and bassist Sacha Galvagna (both of Charles Atlas), and cello by Alexander Kort (of Subtle).
Reviews of The Glass Bottom Boat:
Boomkat: "A close point of reference would be Hood . the title track . features an Espers-style dark folk theme, largely thanks to the Meg Baird-alike vocals by Sarah Bell. As the song gathers steam . a unfolding sense of shoegaze texture builds up, distancing the whole affair from its initially quite rustic beginnings, until by its end there's screeching distortion flying about all over the place."
The Deli SF: "Carta's Glass Bottom Boat is an extremely well crafted work of instrumental music. "
The Silent Ballet: "like a plot-twisting film or novel identifiable by its lush characters, the album offers a whirlpool of listening experiences over time, each one laced with the promise of a new discovery."
The Organ: "a beautifully radiant album, a welcomingly warm album to relax in to, an album full of depth and refined joy, an album that will leave you feeling overwhelmingly happy."
Opuszine: "If there’s perhaps one word that I can use to describe Carta’s music on The Glass Bottom Boat, it would be “pure”.
AllMusicGuide: "Like many fine bands before it -- Joy Division, Low, Mogwai among others -- Carta seeks to use rock band instrumentation to emphasize reflective mood rather than simply traditional performance. Unlike many other predominantly instrumental rock acts of recent years, though, Carta are blessedly free of the go-nowhere dullardry that ended up giving post-rock a bad name -- the group's songs are all miniature portraits that benefit from careful variation within a generally propulsive structure."
In late 2006, Kyle began working closely with Sacha, Ray, and new drummer Raj Ojha (ex-Run Return) on new material. The album, tentatively entitled "An Index of Birds" is finished and will be out in mid 2009. It again features significant contributions from Alex Kort o, as well as vocals by new Carta collaborator Lorealle Bishop, and treatments by Gabriel Coan (formerly of Continental). It was recorded by Eli Crews, Sean Coleman, Carta, Gabriel Coan, and Jared Matt Greenberg in Oakland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles throughout this past year and will be released on wonderful US label Silber Records.
"The Glass Bottom Boat" is available now via Amazon, Boomkat, Norman Records, and most credible online establishments. Limited copies are available from the band; you can PayPal $12 to akmonday@yahoo.com if you are in the US, or $14 international.
