Formed in 1990, Katharine Blake, Kelly McCusker and Jocelyn West were originally a trio of madrigal singers, also skilled in the playing of various instruments.

[2] Consequently, Miranda Sex Garden were discovered by Barry Adamson while singing three-part harmony Elizabethan madrigals on Portobello Road.

Wishing to expand their sound, Miranda Sex Garden left their entirely-a-capella approach behind, first by incorporating violins (played by the original three group members) and then recruiting guitarist/keyboardist/bass player Ben Golomstock and drummer Trevor Sharpe.

[14] Miranda Sex Garden toured with Levitation and Spiritualized, and worked on the soundtrack for Derek Jarman's "Blue" in collaboration with Simon Fisher Turner, Brian Eno and others.

[14] Kelly McCusker left the band in late 1993 to start a career in classical music, leaving Blake as the only remaining original group member.

[2] With Kim Fahy joining on bass guitar in 1994, Miranda Sex Garden continued to pursue a deeper, darker and more sophisticated sound, including a developing interest in sexual fetishism.

[11][14] Adding to their work at various multi-media events, they hosted the "Lunatic Fringe" nights at Holborn's Leisure Lounge and developed an alter ego band called Waltzing Maggots for gigs at London fetish emporium The Torture Garden.

[1] While the band retained its rich instrumentation, the "harder, colder" production pushed Blake more to the foreground, like a conventional pop vocalist, with fewer vocal harmonies backing her up: Einstürzende Neubauten's F.M.

Ben Golomstock formed a new band called Naked Goat with Flesh for Lulu's Nick Marsh, violinist Barney Hollington, bass guitarist Jon Golds and dual drummers Arthur Lager and Vince Johnson[21] Miranda Sex Garden's hiatus was brief, with Blake, Golomstock, Sharpe, Servent and Casella soon regrouping and being joined by Naked Goat's Barney Hollington on violin and Hammond organ.

However, without the promotional budget of a large label, the album received little attention, and in retrospect, the band would consider Carnival of Souls to have "never formally (been) released".

[14] A double A-side single from the album, "Tonight/Sex Garden", was released and saw the band attempting to make inroads into contemporary dance culture, but without commercial success.

[14][23] Ben Golomstock would later refer to this period as "the Coma Years", and claimed that the band had never really split up: "I recorded a few ideas, Katharine sang on some new stuff, we thought we could have a crack at another CD.

[14] In 2023, Emmett Elvin (a long time collaborator of guitarist Kavus Torabi in Guapo and The Holy Family) replaced Mike Servent on keyboards.