Fresh Track: Dave Carter “Puppy Spirit”

This week, local musician and guitarist for Everything, Now! Dave Carter, dropped a solo release entitled Cave Darter EP. The acoustic driven release places a spotlight on the shy wit, cynicism and fascinating world view of a Hoosier artist worth loaning your ears to. However, nothing I write here will offer the kind of insight that Carter’s  Everything, Now! bandmate and MFT curator Jon Rogers provides in his review. It’s an intimidating prospect to write honestly about one’s friends. The writer runs the risk of transforming into a biased cheerleader, but Rogers avoids this pitfall by providing readers with a unique perspective on the personality behind this project.

I chose “Puppy Spirit” for this post, not because I thought it was the best, but because the track is unlike anything else on the release from a musical standpoint. The string section that accompanies the intro and chorus is the most prominent production work on the EP. The addition brings Carter closer to Beck’s early material than the more traditional singer-songwriter sound that dominates the rest of the release. I would also argue that it underscores Carter’s fascination with grunge without allowing the influence to overtake the track in a way that would distract from the others. The genre’s presence is apparent more in the attitude of Carter’s delivery than any overt impact on the song’s structure. Download the Cave Darter EP for free from Musical Family Tree. What do you have to lose?

“Puppy Spirit”

Written by Rob Peoni