S. Carey played at the cave this past Thursday, and we (KRLX & the ‘tonian) got to sit down and chat with him for a few minutes after the show. Here’s a chunk of the transcript
Sam Keyes (KRLX): To start it off – can we hear more about your band, and how S. Carey has evolved from what you had initially intended it to be?
Sean Carey: I guess when I started, it was just an outlet for me to write my own songs and really had no expectations about where it would go and what it would be. For the first record, I assembled these guys – not all of ’em, but 3 of ’em – and we went out and toured for about a year. During that, we had a different bugle player with us… we had a clarinetest play with us for a week… and we had Ben, the guy on pedal-steel come and play. Mikey, a guy from Bon Iver came to play viola with us. But anyway, it turned into the 5 of us that became the core group. For the new record, I used them on the recording a lot and it was much more of a “band thing.” I would come in with a song, just bare-bones chords, melody and lyrics, and we’d all do the arrangements together.
SK: As a student of percussion at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, who were your influences then and what styles were you trying to mimic at that time?
SC: I was really into 20th-century composers – minimalist composers like Steve Reich, Terry Riley and Philip Glass. The first time I heard that music in college, as a percussionist, it hit me on this emotional level that most other classical music didn’t. And they write a lot for percussion. So I was really into that and trying to combine that with singer-songwriter aesthetic
Urmila Kutikkad (Carletonian): What have you maintained throughout this whole journey, or what have you tried to maintain?
The aesthetic is still the same in that we’re trying to create beautiful, simple music that’s described as pretty, cinematic or thought-provoking. I try to remain unpretentious and ongoing with the times… and make this music that reflects who I am as a person and things that are important to me. Even where we live in the midwest – small town, rural life. I think that’s stayed at the core of it, and the songs have all of that in them.
SK: Range of light, I’m sure is influenced by Philip Glass and those composers, but who are the main musical influences of this sound here?
SC: I think Sufjan Stevens is a writer I really like. There’s a guy Sam Amidon; he’s a guy I really look up to as a singer and arranger. Even Death Cab for Cutie.
UK: How has the tour been going?
SC: We’re coming to a long break here, so we’re gonna be hanging out now for most of the winter, chill out, and start playing some shows again next spring. So this, basically, was the last show of the year for us. I think we might be playing Minneapolis in December. This is the end of the chapter this year, I guess.
SK: Is that the next big step for you all – just taking a break?
SC: We have an EP that’s coming out in February. Then we’re going to start doing house-show tours, focusing on more intimate performances and stripping it down a bunch. And that’s what the EP is all about too, just me and a piano – and Mikey did some viola stuff. A lot of the same songs, there’s only a couple new ones. The rest are all old songs but scaled way down.
UK: What advice would you give to Carleton students here who are looking to pursue musical interests?
SC: I think it’s important to balance out “have your heroes that you really look up to”, whether it’s on music or philosophy or whatever. Have that, but have your own path that you’re going on at the same time that’s your own direction and your own voice. We’re all playing from years and years of listening to other music, so it’s important to have your people that you really look up to as songwriters, or musicians, or composers, or whatever and really study that. Study them. Study what makes them great and start creating your own thing.
SK: One final question here: You were talking about how you really strive for your music to be cinematic and thought-provoking… say you’re given the opportunity to have an S. Carey concert wherever in the world you could put it. Where would you have your concert, and who would play alongside you?
SC: I think Australia somewhere, maybe on the mountains or on a beach. Or maybe New Zealand. One of those two. With these guys, and a symphony orchestra.
You can catch him in the state again when he returns to Minneapolis to play a show at the Turf Club on December 13th.