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Listen to the full NPR Fresh Air review - here
Carsie Blanton’s new album Love & Rage, available today (4.30), is “the best showcase for her voice yet” (Fresh Air). Blanton is “one of those hard-headed, open-hearted protesters who can make revolution sound desirable to your body, even if your mind wants to resist” (Fresh Air), exploring themes of justice, protest, and apocalypse, as she swings blithely from sultry jazz ballads to pop-punk protest anthems, all with an equal dose of moxie and mischief.
Listen to Ken Tucker’s full review of Love & Rage,
which aired on NPR’s Fresh Air earlier this week.
Produced the Grammy-nominated Tyler Chester (Margaret Glaspy, Mandy Moore) and backed by her Handsome Band (bassist Joe Plowman and keyboardist Patrick Firth) as well as guests, including Smokey Hormel (Adele, Tom Waits, Beck), Ted Poor (Andrew Bird, Blake Mills), Pete Thomas (The Attractions), and Griffin Goldsmith (Dawes), Love & Rage was recorded mostly over Zoom at the peak of the pandemic and capped by a cross-country road trip where Carsie and the band trekked from Philadelphia to Los Angeles to finish up the record with Chester.
As a follow-up to her 2019 album Buck Up, Blanton continues to craft songs that, beneath the veneer, “blend revolutionary politics with daring commentary about relationships, all laid out on a bed of clever, label-resistant songcraft” (Associated Press). While many songs on the album -- including the opening track “Party at the End of the World” and her anti-fascist anthem “Shit List” -- were written pre-pandemic amidst the unshakable feeling that the world was ending following the 2017 Charlottesville riots, the album’s name, artwork and other standouts were a result of the events of 2020. “Down In The Streets” -- the rabble-rousing “beautiful, militant anthem” (Fresh Air) -- gives the album its name and was written following Philadelphia’s June 1st Black Lives Matters protests. Blanton recalls how quickly the non-violent demonstration turned into a war-zone. The police brought in tanks and began to tear gas protestors (including her brother) before arresting them. After picking her brother up from the police precinct, she returned home and finished the song. “We’re gonna fight for all our friends in the up above,” sings Blanton, “with all our rage and all our love.”
Love & Rage doesn't sound like typical protest music. The album’s standout first single (“Be Good”) recalls “early British punk rock, the poppy kind by Nick Lowe, Wreckless Eric and Rachel Sweet” (Fresh Air). The song is a rallying cry to embrace the radical teachings of people like Jesus and Dr. Martin Luther King: love your neighbor, take care of each other, we are all brothers and sisters. Mixed throughout are tracks like the “lovely soul ballad” ("Ain’t No Sin”) and the album’s closer “Mercy,” which Blanton wrote for her husband whose kindness and compassion have allowed her to imagine a better world.
In lieu of an in-person album release tour, Blanton asked her fans to nominate a local non-profit or justice-minded mutual aid organization. Throughout April, she’s been quietly dropping in to nominated organization's meetings and performing as a show of thanks for their work. The idea was inspired by the monthly Rent Party live streams she started in 2020. What started as a way for Blanton to support her band, resulted in a year that grew her fanbase more than any previous year. Blanton and her Handsome Band continued these Rent Parties into 2021, but are set to return to the road later this year.
Love & Rage Track List:
- Party At The End of the World
- Down in the Streets
- Be Good
- All My Love
- Can’t Wait To Break Your Heart
- Shit List
- So Long New Orleans
- Be So Bad
- Sufferin’ Fools
- Ain’t No Sin
- Mercy
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