For nearly as long as he’s been backing Justin Vernon on drums in Bon Iver, Sean Carey has been releasing music as a solo artist under the name S. Carey, debuting the project in 2010 with a collection of ambient folk and pop songs on a smaller scale than that of Vernon’s band. Over time that outlet has blossomed alongside Bon Iver’s shift from ramshackle folk to glitch-pop, with Carey’s latest album Break Me Open combining the delicacy the project’s always held with new orchestral and electronic peaks.
Lyrically, it makes sense that his first record since 2018 (and therefore his first since the pandemic) concerns itself with a cathartic airing of anxieties, which range from personal—those related to relationships and parenthood—to global, with the woozy Auto-Tune of “Starless” taking on the ever looming concerns brought upon us by climate change. Yet in spite of all this the sun always manages to peek through the smog, the album’s tug-of-war between despair and hopefulness always seeing the latter victorious. Carey puts it best himself when he sums up the collection of songs as “patient, epic, and hopeful.”
With the album out now via Jagjaguwar, stream along and read Carey’s track-by-track breakdown of Break Me Open below.
1. “Dark”
This song was either going to be first or last. It starts the record in a heavy way, but it sets the tone. I remember driving around and blasting a demo I made with a couple cheap synths and some blown-out drums and feeling like this was something special. I began to imagine a long outro where the song dissipates into a beautiful chorale with brass instruments. Thematically the song is about the deepest love a parent has for a child. The biggest fear, then, of any parent is losing a child. So this song is contemplating that feeling and facing my fear.
2. “Starless”
This was co-written with my bandmate, Ben Lester. He came up with this haunting Prophet 6 patch and I love all the layers of other sounds that come in and out, whizzing by like insects in the night. The lyrics are inspired by the stress that climate change plays in our lives as humans. Modernity vs. power of nature.
3. “Sunshower”
While much of the record is about heartbreak, “Sunshower” is about heart-open, heart-hope. That wonderful feeling of rain falling with a sun breaking through. The opening of the sky in water and light.
4. “Island”
This is a song for my daughter. Another co-write with Ben Lester. I love the way the synth and electronic drums marry with acoustic instruments like upright bass, strings, horns, and piano. I also really dig how each section of the song comes together at the end in an almost symphonic way.
5. “Waking Up”
This is the most laid bare track on the record. Intimate instrumentation, delivery, and lyrics. The song is about loss, change, heartbreak, and waking up to a new reality.
6. “Desolate”
This was one of the first songs we worked on for this record. I feel like it’s cinematic in a way. I get a lot of imagery and visions when I listen to it. I like the juxtaposition of kind of dark abstract lyrics with more driving kick-drum pulse.
7. “Paralyzed”
Here’s another song from a parent’s perspective—watching your kids just grow up way too fast. For me, as a touring musician, I spend a lot of time away from home, so this is me dealing with those feelings.
8. “Where I Was”
This song was the last one to take shape on the record. Another one about grief, but a little further on in the process, toward the “bottom.” I love the sonic landscape here, and the affected vocal just kind of lives within the track in a beautiful way.
9. “Break Me Open”
The title track from the record. It’s a call to be vulnerable. Not only does it take a lot of vulnerability to write and share an album like this, but more importantly it became like a mantra of how I want to change my life and the way I live. I remember writing the lyrics sitting under a huge oak tree in the forest, wondering what was next for me in life.
10. “Crestfallen”
I actually had this basic synth idea and melody laying around for years, and finally found a home for it. Last track vibes all over it. I’m really happy with the vocal performance on this one, and the arrangement—it’s patient, epic, and hopeful. I love how it grows to encapsulate the record as a whole, and ends on a more upbeat light note.
