Supermoon in Bloomington, MN

On his second EP and fourth solo release, Wisconsin's
S. Carey
continues to hike down the nature trail of deeply pastoral indie chamber-folk. With influences that range from composer
Steve Reich
to naturalist
John Muir
, his music generally comes across as a sort of soothing balm that marries rustic imagery with an almost classical sophistication. Containing gentle reimaginings of four songs from his first two LPs (2010's
All We Grow
and 2014's
Range of Light
) along with the newly composed title track and a cover of
Radiohead
's "Bullet Proofâ?¦ I Wish I Was," the understated
Supermoon
rarely raises itself above a whisper. Much of the appeal of
Carey
's first two albums is in their subtle, multi-layered orchestral arrangements that quietly explode with guitars, horns, strings, and clever, skittering percussion parts to frame his austere melodies. On
, already tranquil songs like "Fire - Scene" and "In the Stream" get downplayed even further with decidedly sparse renditions that pair strings and solo piano with
's calm, easy vocals. Once again taking his inspiration from the natural world, the EP was recorded in August 2014 during a phenomenon known as a perigee-syzygy, or Supermoon. ~ Timothy Monger