‘Range of Light’ shines
April 1, 2014
Though he might be better known as a drummer and backing vocalist for Bon Iver, vocalist Sean Carey has a spectrum of his own music.
Carey’s solo work began with the 2010 album “All We Grow.” Critics met it with rave reviews focused on the glowing atmosphere of the album rather than the craft of the composition.
“Range of Light” features a similar tone. The album’s first song, “Glass/Film,” starts down-tempo before picking up moments later with bell-tones and syncopated chimes. A horn plays as the surrounding noises continue and Carey’s calm whisper arrives. The piece has catchiness, with opulent vocal and instrument arrangements.
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The second song, “Creaking,” feels reminiscent of “All We Grow”’s tracks, but features an upbeat tempo, something not seen so early on in Carey’s first steady crescendo of an album. This song boasts a hauntingly pleasant feel as it progresses around distant drum-taps.
“Crown the Pines” arrives with a strong structure, initially alternating between vocal layers. Carey’s own vocals resound prominently within the flourishing violin harmony. “Fire-scene” is where Carey thrives — the graceful and controlled music hums and, at a clever measure, the flat note works to further the intimacies of the broadly precise notes.
The album persists with slow and focused metered melodies through “Radiant” and “Alpenglow.” In the latter, listeners find an absence of electric strings, made up for in the distance of the synthetically induced electronic atmosphere.
As the album stirs in the dissonance of multi-layered vocal and electronic instruments, there is an enveloping symphony in “Fleeting Light.” It swells in rising and falling electronic instrumentation, which creates an aery swoon; the rhythmic harmony breeds what is dream into reality — simply put, the song entrances.
Considering enchantment, “The Dome” focuses on and harks back to Carey’s rooted instrumentation. Though not as quickly clustered by strings, there is fullness to the melody; The laboring lap-guitar and banjo are enraptured in the ambient trance of leisurely measure. Similar to “Fleeting Light,” the song is ethereal and drives an unconsciousness-like tempo.
The tenth and final track is a musical flow which is, very unfortunately, bound by restraint. It exists as a collection of the album’s earlier tracks — consider the song, “Neverending Fountain,” the basin the earlier tracks flow toward. In this respect, the song is boundless and creates an album that is also everlasting.
Because the album only has ten songs, it runs quickly. But “Range of Light”’s deep melodies give the album value through countless replays.
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Jake Saunders can be reached at [email protected], or by phone at 536-3311 ext. 254.
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