Carnation Daughn Gibson

• 1Bled to Death02:11
• 2Heaven You Better Come In03:24
• 3Shatter You Through04:24
• 4For Every Bite03:59
• 5Daddy I Cut My Hair03:22
• 6A Rope Ain't Enough03:29
• 7I Let Him Deal03:08
• 8Shine of the Night03:44
• 9Runaway and the Pyro02:28
• 10It Wants Everything03:53
• 11Back With the Family04:24
• Total Runtime38:26

Info for Carnation

Daughn Gibson of Carlisle, PA is a singer, songwriter and musician possessed of a singular and strange vision. Carnation is the latest exhilarating and dark embodiment of that vision. It’s also his third album. It’s an album that’s more elegant and sophisticated than anything he’s done to date, and which sees the elements of country music, more prominent on his past records (the 2012 release All Hell on the White Denim label and Sub Pop’s 2013 release of Me Moan), undone by ambient textures and sounds to extraordinary effect.

Shot through with a deep sensuality, Carnation is a high-wire balancing act, at times sexual, emotionally intense and comforting. The album features Daughn’s strongest songwriting yet, with lyrical subject matter that shares a kinship with writers Raymond Carver and Donald Ray Pollack. The music here combines with those lyrics to widescreen effect, and Carnation feels filmic in its execution: It evokes, and in many ways pays homage to, the works of Tim Burton, Pier Paulo Pasolini, and John Waters.

Carnation’s most pervasive theme might best be described as the chaos of circumstance and the 11 tracks here tell related stories. In “Bled to Death,” Daughn passes away and laments the cruel hand dragging him back to earth. On “Daddy I Cut My Hair,” a young man recently released from a mental health facility desperately searches for sexual intimacy. “A Rope Ain’t Enough” follows the story of an ambivalent man suddenly awaking to the disease of masculinity, and formulating a plan to eradicate it. “It Wants Everything” is written from the point of view of a drunk and belligerent “jester of circumstance”. Then there’s the addictive lead single, “Shatter You Through,” which happens to detail a moment of peaceful sleep broken by the alarm clock toll of dread and sadness, but proves to be one hell of an earworm.

Carnation was co-produced and recorded by Daughn Gibson and Randall Dunn (Earth, Sunn O))), Jesse Sykes, Tim Hecker). Dunn’s knack for textured mixes and sense of pagan weight collide with Gibson’s underlying pop sensibilities. The two also enlisted the talents of composer/violinist to Eyvind Kang on string arrangements, renowned studio drummer Matt Chamberlain, as well as Daughn’s long-standing musical conspirator, Jim Elkington. Additional contributions include: Steve Moore (Piano, Trombone, Keyboards and Synths); Milky Burgess, Paul Wegman, and Jer Rouse (Guitars); Skerik (Saxophone); and Jay Kardong (Pedal Steel). Carnation was recorded at Avast Studios in Seattle, Washington and mastered by Jason Ward at Chicago Mastering.

Daughn Gibson
Let’s get a few facts straight right off the bat. The name is Daughn Gibson – rhymes with Jaughn, or Raughn. He was born in the village of Nazareth, PA, and currently resides in the sleepy college town of Carlisle, PA, where he frequents local watering holes like The Cave and Alibis. He’s 6’5", hovers at 200 pounds, and has a head of jet-black hair thicker than a porcupine. He played drums in the group Pearls & Brass for a number of years, touring the US to small but enthusiastic crowds, and if you tag them as “stoner-metal” it will go to show that you’ve never actually listened to them. For a few years in-between, Daughn was a trucker, sure, but he’s also been packing boxes in an un-air conditioned warehouse, climbing up commercial broadcast towers with untested levels of radiation, working the register at an adult bookstore, doing sound at dive bars and collecting unemployment checks to earn a living. Daughn’s been around.

Daughn Gibson first entered the daydreams and fantasies of the general public in the spring of last year, care of his critically-acclaimed debut album All Hell. At once both foreign and familiar, Daughn’s music is immediately striking – through the use of dusty thrift-store records and cutting edge technology, Daughn shook the ghosts out of scratchy Christian folk records and baptized them as fierce Americana with his booming baritone voice. His songs are as frequently tender as they are prurient, as hopeful as they are brimming with despair. He treats the past with a respectful reverence while still being able to appreciate what some modern-day wunderkind is doing with electronic music across the pond. The only real starting point for the music of Daughn Gibson is Daughn Gibson.

It’s on Daughn’s second album and Sub Pop debut, Me Moan, that he truly reveals himself to the world. If All Hell was a gritty black-and-white movie, Me Moan is a widescreen IMAX 3D extravaganza. While the roots of sample-based music remain, these songs are performed live, lushly detailed and richly orchestrated. It’s going to take a few listens just to soak it in and process, but that’s alright – one always finds the time for something like this. To name but a small selection, live drums, pedal steel, horns, house strings, bagpipes and organs appear on this record, but never does it feel over-stuffed – every instrument or melody is perfectly in place. It’s worth noting that guitarists John Baizley (of Baroness) and Jim Elkington (of Brokeback) provide stunning performances on the record. You’ll throw it all to the wind during “Kissin on the Blacktop” and nurse your hangover with “Into the Sea”. You’ll protect your loved ones against “The Pisgee Nest” and hold them close during “Franco”. You’ll send “Phantom Rider” after your enemies and feel remorse alongside “All My Days”. Me Moan isn’t just Daughn Gibson’s primal scream, it’s a skirmish through the full spectrum of emotion, unfiltered and impassioned.

Like Cormac McCarthy or Robert Altman, Daughn Gibson is a uniquely American artist who throws his soul into his work, free of compromise, possessed by unique vision and so damn intense that he constantly teeters on spontaneous combustion. It’s not out of line to consider Me Moan as his Blood Meridian; his Nashville. All that’s left is for you to let Daughn in.

This album contains no booklet.