CAROUSEL (BLUE SNOWCONE VINYL)

A newly dynamic chapter in villagerrr's discography,
Carousel, Mark Scott''''s fifth album as villagerrr, glides from
slowcore to shoegaze, from log-cabin folk to the
accelerated bliss of rock tailor-made for an empty freeway.
The boldest and most delicate album to date from the Ohio
songwriter, Carousel is a sweeping exploration of what it
means to try to make sincere art in a hyperexposed and
constricting age, where Scott''''s big, midwestern songs
smolder with a desire to find enduring meaning in an era rife
with commodification. Piecing the music together over the
course of two years, Scott let the collaborative spirit of his
previous record flourish. 2024''''s Tear Your Heart Out,
sparked tours with Real Estate, Greg Freeman and
Momma, a new label deal with Winspear and recent deluxe
reissue, bringing in widening circles of listeners and
collaborators. Carousel features a melange of Scott''''s rising
folk and indie rock peers, like Boone Patrello of Teethe,
h. pruz and Carolina Chau?e of Hemlock, and was mixed
by Scott after listening back to rough drafts on long drives
or on runs. With Scott''''s keen ear for both particulate detail
and expansive landscape, listening to villagerrr can feel like
peering into prairie grass to see what's crawling there, then
standing up suddenly to witness the splendor of an
oncoming storm. Carousel harbors a lot of healthy
skepticism about the world we're in now, but it also holds up
proof that just laying down your guard and reaching out to
other people can spark creatively bountiful
relationships'and set the foundation for a life that's deeply,
meaningfully livable