By David Peter Simon | May 17th, 2012
Well, we all grow.
By now you should be familiar with the fact that S. Carey is well known for having been Bon Iver’s drummer. We don’t need to muse whether or not he’s “behind the scenes” anymore, he’s got popularity in his own right. But, for better or worse, the Bon Iver references continue. Isn’t not mentioning it, mentioning it? I tried my best to think of way to write this entire review without pointing to the Bon Iver history, but it seems even mentioning the situation is the “go-to” when describing Sean’s work. How meta, and silly.
Yes, he was in Bon Iver. Now let’s focus on S. Carey’s new work, shall we?
I can’t believe it’s been two years since we covered S. Carey’s debut, All We Grow. Damn, time flies. I was a different boy back then, S. Carey, a very different musician. With Hoyas, Sean’s changed it up… a lot. No more soothing piano, no more chilled vocals. It’s all about the autotune, the droning guitar distortion – the “beats and blips” as the blogosphere’s calling it.
Can we still call it folk? Out with the layered ambient, in with the laptop-driven chillstep. It’s all about the R&B nowadays, and S. Carey’s no stranger to the trend. His autotune sounds like a one-man version of Black Moth Super Rainbow or a more mellow Balam Acab. It’s like folk&b, imagine Sean with a synth sitting near a campfire.
This album’s different – yes – but still good. I’m a big fan of the muted trumpets on “Two Angels,” give it a peek on our earlier review. While I was hoping for more All We Grow, I guess it was time to grow, and change.
You can follow S. Carey via his blog. Check out 4.24.2012 @ 3:02 pm for the photoguide to Hoyas.