In our conversation with Sam Carlson (back in March of this year), he teased that in addition to his new album Sing The Hits, there was new music on the horizon. That new music — an EP entitled The Enemy Is Listening — was just announced this morning alongside the track “White Sedan / Red Earth”. Katherine Von Ancken, who also released new music this year, features on the track too, providing truly wonderful guest vocals. Check it out at the embed below.
Sing the Hits is one of our favorite albums of the year, and our preview listen of The Enemy Is Listening tells us that the new stuff is just as excellent if not excellenter. These new songs feature a different line-up than Sing The Hits (which was Carlson on everything except bass): Ilya Gitelman (Ports of Spain) features on lead guitar, M Skaggs Jr (The Proud Flesh) features on bass, and J Thompson (Fiction Kids, Quiet Giant, Laundry Day) lays down the magic on drums. I know, right? It’s like the Voltron of New Haven County music. These are The Tines: Legendary Defenders.
OK so this is the section where I am supposed to tell you about what “White Sedan / Red Earth” sounds like. It sounds like S.G. Carlson: it sounds good! It sounds like pre-2010 indie rock, just before it all got so ironic. It’s warm. It’s melodic. It’s a bit fuzzy. In comparison to Velvet Underground’s “White Light / White Heat”, there’s not much in common. That Velvet Underground song is about smoking meth, and “White Sedan / Red Earth” is about… the opposite of that. It’s about genuine, durable, comfortable connection. You can hear the song right now, and the rest of The Enemy Is Listening on Halloween, but there are a couple of B-movie horror music videos coming down the pipe very soon.
The Enemy Is Listening is the first physical release from Free As Birds Records, the new label created by Alex Burnet (Laundry Day, The Proud Flesh). Free As Birds debuted in the spring/summer when Burnet assembled three incredible compilations of New Haven artists. The Enemy Is Listening will be available on CD, and you should buy it, not just because it’s great to support CT artists all day every day, but because just look at it! The packaging is beautiful.
S.G. Carlson has been busy this summer, not just with their new music, but also in operating Sans Serif Recording with Pat Dalton. Have you checked out the live video sessions they’ve been releasing with other CT artists?
