Carriers Shares Dusky and Anthemic Track 'Sometimes'

Carriers — the project helmed by Cincinnati, Ohio’s Curt Kiser — shares “Sometimes,” their first new music to be released since 2019’s Now Is The Time For Loving Me, Yourself & Everyone Else (reissued by Brassland in 2023).

Recorded in collaboration with seasoned studio player Dave Nelson (whose credits include everyone from Lonnie Hollie and Joanna Newsom to Taylor Swift and Mumford and Sons), “Sometimes” is crisp and anthemic — a cosmic swirl of heartland hallucinations, motorik Americana, and plainspoken poeticism in the vein of Tom Petty or Kurt Vile.

The earliest version of “Sometimes” was recorded hastily on an old Fostex multi-track, a candid reaction to what was a turbulent week for Kiser — the one-two punch of a scary car accident followed by all of his musical gear getting stolen from a van while on a brief tour jaunt to Chicago. It’s a track that reckons with the realities and hardships of a life spent running down a dream, finding inspiration to persist in the support and solidarity of loved ones.

Carriers’ music has become something of an Ohio talisman, and Curt a true hometown hero. "I have a beautiful, symbiotic relationship with Cincinnati,” he says. Some of Cincy’s most enduring civic entities agree.

During the fall 2024 NFL season, the Cincinnati Bengals tapped him to play a set during a Monday Night Football game. He and his dad ("trust me, he shreds”) rocked out in front of 60,000 fans. Shake It! Records, one of The Queen City’s most beloved local vinyl shops, is working with Carriers on a series of special vinyl LPs. John Curley of Cincinnati alt-rock legends The Afghan Whigs recorded Now Is The Time For Loving Me, Yourself & Everyone Else  at his studio. And, finally the Carriers project recently signed to Brassland, an esteemed Brooklyn label co-founded by one of Cincinnati’s most renowned 21st century cultural exports, The National. (That band’s drummer Bryan Devendorf contributed to Curt’s last LP and, in return, Curt did session work on The National’s pair of 2023 albums.)

Love for Carriers extends well beyond Cincinnati city limits. Carriers has opened up for the likes of Big Thief and Damien Jurado and, in summer 2024, nabbed opening slots on tours with Band Of Horses and Fruit Bats. Sharon Van Etten even listed Carriers in the “Recommended Listening” section of the liner notes for her 2019 LP Remind Me Tomorrow.

“When I was 19 years old, I looked to the heavens and asked what I should do with my life,” says Kiser. “I sat on my porch in Cincinnati’s Camp Washington neighborhood and proceeded to write one of the first songs I’d ever written on my own. It’s taken a few hundred songs to feel confident in it, but I’m there now.”

Photo Credit: Egan Parks

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