S. Carey
Supermoon EP
Jagjaguwar

was recorded during last August's perigee-syzygy (AKA super moon), and is said to be 'a study in scale, space, and proximity.' Yes, it is time for some real chill-out time.

S. Carey is first and foremost Sean Carey, but his bang gangs members are Nick Ball, Zach Hanson, Jeremy Boettcher and Ben Lester. S. Carey is based in Eau Claire, WI, and roam the wilderness, letting their homeside nature inspire the music. The content of Supermoon isn't new. Well, something is. Some things are new, but most tracks are re-worked, re-imagined versions from the two albums, All We Grow (2010) and Range of Light (2014). And... with reworked the keyword or cue is 'stripped'. Carey's idea was to strip a song down to its core and hear it that way. To quote Sean Carey: 'The longer you spend with a song, the more you can see it in its pure form.' The result is a super intimate sound, in a simple and plain setting with Carey (piano, vocals) and Mikey Noyce (strings). Here are two songs off Range of Light: "Fire-scene" and "Neverending Fountain". Both tracks lifted their parent album to become album of the year for my ears, my taste. Here are also two songs from All We Grow: "We Fell" and "In the Stream", which are teasing and tickling me to go check out that album. Right away.

The title track didn't get to me that easy. I had to listen to it several times, but I wasn't sure. I am still not certain. It is a beautiful song, for sure, but it is maybe too fragile and relaxed. It is almost transparent. I still haven't adapted myself to it, but... nevertheless it is spellbinding and magic. The final song is a cover version of Radiohead's "Bullet Proof... I Wish I Was" (from the album The Bends). In S. Carey's hands the song isn't that different, besides being more stripped, bare-naked. The vibe is indeed in Radiohead's (or Thom Yorke's) spirit, I guess, but it is diffcult to lift this song to a higher place. However, S. Carey manage to make it sound like a... well, S. Carey song. A heavenly song. It is a tender and brittle version of a song that is... tender and fragile in its original form.

So, yes, please. These songs are good stuff, leaving you comfortably numb. It is a superb-moon. These songs are meant for (according to Carey): 'rainy day solitude and reflection.'

Sean Carey, on last August's perigee-syzygy, the super moon: 'The moon was so big and sometimes red. Amazing for sure. It kinda made some people feel weird, like off balance or something. For me, it just intensified the mystery of everything. I've always been enamored with the creative process. For a while, I would only write/work on music at night. The silence, the quiet, the dark were things that inspired me. I guess this is just an extension of that.'

Copyright © 2015 S. Pooky