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CARM

CARM

CARM II

    Innovative horn player, producer and songwriter CJ Camerieri returns with his deeply collaborative CARM project. CARM II, the second album due out this fall with 37d03d, was produced in Minneapolis by Ryan Olson and features Edie Brickell, Sid Sriram, Kristian Matsson, Justin Vernon, Gabriella Smith, Sean Carey and others. It is a genre-defying, heartfelt exploration of the possibilities in provocative musicmaking and provides a homespace for a profound variety of voices.

    Where the first record used horns in place of other instruments, CARM II places them even more prominently in the musical texture. The experience of playing live shaped this approach. “Standing at the front of the stage was a new experience for me and I wanted to create a record of songs that justified my being there.” On CARM II, there is no mistaking that the lead “singer” of this band is Camerieri’s horn. CJ also wanted to feature bandmate Trever Hagen, who takes on both production and performance roles

    The featured artists on CARM II have opined on their various roles in this project. Brickell contacted Camerieri asking him to participate in her short-form songwriting project that she introduced on social media during the pandemic. Camerieri and Olson were in the middle of writing songs for the record, and one stood out as perfect for Brickell’s request. Sent as a work-inprogress, she quickly responded, writing the first verse and chorus to what would become “More and More.” They knew it needed to be fully realized. Says Brickell, “CJ’s trumpet melodies and phrases inspired ‘More and More.’ I just listened to him and followed his lead, trusted what came to mind and sang it. It all flowed from his music.”

    “For ‘I Fall’ Ryan and I created the basic track and I really struggled to write on it. It wasn’t in song form, and I couldn’t find my way into making it a coherent thought.” CJ thought of Gabriella Smith, one of the leading composers of our day, and on a whim sent her the track. Smith sent fragments to experiment with and send back to her as she rode out the pandemic in the Norwegian countryside. After 3 months, she then sent him a fully realized score of horns/vocals.

    The result is a testament to the visionary composer’s incredible ingenuity. “That this music was in Smith’s imagination and then fully notated is mind boggling to me.” “The Ones You Love” was the last song written for the record. CJ had been arranging and playing horns on Sid Sriram’s forthcoming debut, falling in love with Sriram’s voice and style. The song came from a jam session at with Andrew Broder on keys, Evan Slack on guitar, Chris Bierden on bass, and Hagen on drum machine. CJ and Sid trade epic lines back and forth, celebrating vulnerability and virtuosity in tandem.

    TRACK LISTING

    A 1/ Aptap (4:19)
    2/ Essex Girl (2:22)
    3/ The Ones You Love (feat. Sid Sriram) (4:27)
    4/ Breaks (5:20)
    5/ More And More (feat. Edie Brickell) (5:10)

    B 6/ Saturn (3:46)
    7/ New Eyes (3:43)
    8/ A Void (feat. Mike Noyce) (5:02)
    9/ I Fall (feat. Gabriella Smith) (4:39)
    10/ The Great Divide (5:11)

    Carm

    Carm

      The music of CARM features horns in roles typically reserved for drums, guitars, and voices, while also escaping the genre categorizations reserved for music featuring an instrumentalist as bandleader. It is not jazz or classical music, nor is it a soundtrack. This is contemporary popular music that features a sound normally used as a background color and texture as the unabashed lead voice. According to CARM, aka CJ Camerieri, “It started with the question: ‘What kind of record would my trumpet-playing heroes from the past make today?’ I believe they would want to work with the best producers, beat makers, song-writers, and singers to create new, truly culturally relevant music, and that’s what I sought to do with this project.” Produced in Minneapolis by Ryan Olson (Polica, Lizzo) and featuring collaborations with Sufjan Stevens, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Yo La Tengo, Shara Nova, Mouse on Mars, Francis and the Lights and many others. It is a completely unique sound that additionally serves as a survey of the collaborations that have come to define the artist’s career thus far.

      Says Vernon, "I truly believe there isn’t a more accomplished brass player in the entire world of music. And this is way more than a 'horn' record. It’s a discovery of new heights with what is possible in creating music.” The album begins with an orchestral brass choir of french horns, which quickly gives way to a piano sample from Francis, as Stevens and Lupin combine voices over a lush bed of horns to sing “Song of Trouble.” The album bookends with the same piano sample used as a springboard to an iconic lyric by Vernon in the album closer “Land.” Between these two generation-defining artists we have upward sweeping melodies and fanfares reminiscent of Ennio Morricone. The acutely original sound of Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo in “Already Gone” give way to the virtuoso sound of Nova’s voice. A more experimental path emerges before the strings from yMusic bring us back to the piano sample that started the record. Instead of recycling well-trodden sounds, CARM offers a respite for those seeking an original voice.

      TRACK LISTING

      A/

      1. Song Of Trouble (feat. Sufjan Stevens)
      2. Soft Night
      3. Nowhere
      4. Already Gone (feat. Georgia Hubley, Ira Kaplan)
      5. After Hours

      B/

      6. Invisible Walls
      7. Tapp (feat. Shara Nova)
      8. Slantwise
      9. Scarcely Out (feat. Mouse On Mars)
      10. Land (feat. Justin Vernon)


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