S. Carey

First listen? Check out We Fell.

Back in 2010, if you googled Sean Carey, you would have gotten some random musician from NY. And he sucked. But S. Carey... man, this is the artist that probably got that first dude a few thousand accidental plays on his archaic MySpace every week or so.

I initially thought "S. Carey" was a cleverway to work around the fact that this other guy had already become the top search result, but then I thought again. J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart, F. Liszt, F. Chopin... real composers use their first initial(s) and last name. Then S. Carey made sense. A lot of sense.

S. Carey's debut album is special. Like Bon Iver's "For Emma, Forever Ago" is special to me... Surprising, even though Sean is a member of Bon Iver. A special album to me is something I'll keep tucked away like a treasured possession. A gem I'll take out every so often when I'm alone to just admire. How rare an achievement to create an album so understated, so brilliant! This album is fragile, yet hopeful. Ambient and experimental, yet warm and organic.

When I analyze this record both as a songwriter and as a music theory teacher, I see carefully crafted arrangements, simple yet elegant melodic lines, but then I take a step back and realize that this album still has something that completely eludes me. It's on a different plane than most of the stuff I've heard over the past couple years. There are bits of jazz/free improvisation peppered amongst heavy acoustic ballads, multi-tracked pianos, odd rhythmic juxtapositions, and there is no shortage of tight harmonies and vocals as smooth as butter!

The lyrics, while at times confessional and introspective, never dwell on the negative for too long, and evoke deeply personal expressions of love for his wife, a kind of love that reminds me of all the kinds of pain, yearning, and affection present in the deepest of relationships. What's not to like except the tears that will flow from hearing this work of beauty? Nothing, that's what! And with this album coming from a drummer, you might expect this album to be heavy on the percussion, but again, as with the other instruments and the songs as they're written in general, it's always enough, and no more.

Interesting note: Besides the fact that my ex-band member is currently on tour with S. Carey, and that I'm jealous as hell really happy for him, I learned a fun fact from Nick Ball in the Fall of 2009, when he let me hear super-secret demo versions of We Fell and Move. Apparently, Sean had asked Nick to lay down some tracks on these songs he was recording in bits and pieces between breaks from touring with Bon Iver. I knew right away from this first listen that this was special. And when I wondered who was playing the guitar parts I was really digging, I was curious: "Sean can play guitar? I thought he was mostly a drummer and pianist, right?" Nick then tells me that Sean was learning how to play guitar to record the guitar parts in hopes of releasing an album. And so I was in awe... a masterpiece was being slowly assembled. He learned an instrument to turn what he had only heard in his head into a reality.

Most of my students have played for years before they understand this idea that guitar is just a tool, and that music begins in the imagination. But S. Carey gets it. This canot be said strongly enough. He really gets it. The guitar parts are by no means executed perfectly, nor are they even difficult to play by most standards, but they are no less exceptionally written and unique or refreshing. From Move, to Mothers, to Action, to the panned juxtaposition of guitars of In the Stream, I've been forced to re-examine and challenging myself as a guitarist. And I've been playing for 15 years. Hah. Sigh.

I knew the album would get picked up by Jagjaguwar, and if not by them, someone else would sign him, and quickly. I was right.

The two live shows I caught of theirs since have been enlightening. When you go to a show, you typically expect to have a good time, be entertained, and whatnot. But for S. Carey, it's more like an immersive experience. A way for his recordings to come to life, and a way in for the audience to that special space they've created in that special time. They're definitely not to be missed. Really looking forward to seeing them in July at The Independent SF.