Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Listen: S. Carey - "Fire-Scene"

                                                        (photo by Cameron Witting)

Bon Iver band member and a talented artist in his own right S. Carey released one of the most immersive, beautiful, and deeply felt solo debuts back in 2010 with All We Grow. It was a record that so brilliantly utilized the organic, emotive elements of folk songwriting that when S. Carey followed it up with the much less nuanced, more electronic-heavy Hoyas EP, it was a bit jarring to say the least when not unlike Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon, Carey tried his hand at autotune. S. Carey's new single "Fire-Scene" for his sophomore full length Range of Light however sees a sort of return to form.

S. Carey's main strength has always been an instrumental minimalism in his songs and that's clearly on display in "Fire-Scene". Simple melodies enable Carey's tender vocals to cover a wider emotional terrain and make the eventual build up all the more effective. Carey's song construction is downright scenic in its expansiveness and he makes astonishing use of the freedom provided from non-metronomic beat keeping. In fact, it doesn't rely the drum standard and employs a much more internal sense of time. Anything resembling an obvious beat is short-lived like the piano which turns more melodic than percussive after its entrance and a upright bass which follows suit.


Listen to the first single "Fire-Scene" from S. Carey's upcoming Range of Light out April 1st on Jagjaguwar: 


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