in the dirt – shape+colour

Interesting that two of the freshest, most exciting new sounds I’ve heard lately are both from percussionists in established acts doing the solo thing. A few month’s ago was the first EP from Caribou drummer/percussionist Brad Weber’s side project Pick A Piper, and now Bon Iver’s drummer/pianist S. Carey comes to the table with his solo project “All We Grow.”

Coincidence? Methinks not. It feels to me like the percussionists think about music a little differently. Rhythmically, sure, but I think all that time spent, literally, keeping time, gives them a separate approach when they expand to creating the whole sound. With the best of rhythm – a pulse, a throb, a gait – that’s finally being allowed to express its own freedom and reach out.

The first track, “In The Dirt”, is percussive with the piano and dreamy throughout. Again, it has a tone that repeats but in a way that feels like coming back to something you love rather than being stuck in the same place. A fresh familiarity. It’s the difference being the sound of being home and the sound of just being.