Aliese is the ambitious new project from the New York-based artist and musician Spurgeon R. Carter, III. According to the artist, his forthcoming album Are You Good? is the beginning of a larger body of work, one that will cohere along conceptual lines. The name Aliese is drawn from the artist’s familial history, and the project as a whole is interested in ideas of love and legacy as they play out through time and space.
After the release of two song-leaning tracks—the breakbeat-driven “If You Have To Go” and psych-poppy “All Good”—today Nina is premiering a third track, “Cataracts,” which eschews verse-chorus-verse dynamics altogether. The artist told us it is influenced by Laurie Anderson and Alvin Lucier; indeed, it references Lucier’s canonical sound art piece I Am Sitting in a Room. We wanted to know more, so we sent over some questions.
When you shared your new record, you were insistent that I sit down and listen to it all in one chunk. Do you think that the album still matters in this era?
Spurgeon R. Carter, III: I think receiving art in the format that the artist intended is still important to receive the full effect of that work of art. You can watch Dune on the airplane and get the plot but that’s going to be very different than experiencing it in IMAX. Our current media landscape is to me depressing as an artist because while some people excel at making Spotify playlist music or TikTok friendly content, that shouldn’t be the expectation for all artists. A lot of impactful and influential music wouldn’t have made it to the center of culture.
I’ve recently been quipping in conversations saying Kurt Cobain wouldn’t have made it in the TikTok era. The guy hated interviews and while charming was also misanthropic—he wouldn’t have been churning out TikToks to promote Bleach. Can you imagine your only context for Dark Side of the Moon being one track you found in a playlist?
Music started out as a shared experience. Even in the early 20th century, radio and record players were centerpieces of home entertainment systems in a way that was communal. My mom tells me stories of how everyone in the neighborhood would gather at one house to listen to Michael Jackson’s Thriller from start to finish when it came out. Our opportunity for shared experiences of art are lessening, and as consumers, we should ask for more from this media ecosystem beyond our “meet me where I’m at” attitude. I think it's ultimately very isolating for everybody. That’s why I really fuck with Nina and the platform’s intention of preserving context around music releases.
“Cataracts” is the track we are premiering today. Could you talk a little bit about it?
“Cataracts,” and the EP as a whole, heavily references 20th century sound artists who were pushing the boundaries on what music was during their time as well as pioneering new uses for sound technology like tape machines. The EP is a total examination of the idea of revolution and I felt like this movement represents that for me. This track in specific draws inspiration from the work of Alvin Lucier, Laurie Anderson and, loosely, other luminaries of the movement like Terry Riley and Steve Reich. Lucier and Anderson in particular are known for using mantra-like vocal repetitions in their work and I was arranging the track as if it were a Laurie Anderson track with all of the orchestral elements.
Following up on my first single “All Good,” which calls for revolutionizing our relationship to institutions, I wanted to write a track that represented the process of personal revolution. I think that happens when we look inward and oftentimes that doesn’t happen immediately. That’s what I think is cool about mantras. We may need to speak or hear something over and over again until we ingest it and are able to embody it.
Referencing Alvin Lucier’s I Am Sitting in a Room, I repeat the phrase “a man enters the room, sits down, to face himself” over and over again and as the track progresses I build out musical elements around that. I even put the vocal track through the exact resonant feedback process that Lucier does in his track. There’s a quick snippet of that at the end in “Cataracts” as a lil head nod. Coincidentally, Jake Aron, who mixed this track and most of the EP, studied under Lucier in college and was really excited about the concept when we were discussing the mix direction for it.
Secondarily, I wanted to play with polyrhythms similar to what Riley and Reich do throughout their compositions so I wrote the initial lilting synth line in ¾ then I wrote the second synth part that appears at around two minutes in 4/4 so there’s this polyrhythmic friction that happens as the two synth lines converge before making way for the next section. I’ve had an affinity for this loop-based orchestral sound as a result of growing up in and around Baltimore (Philip Glass is a fellow Baltimorean) and going to Dan Deacon’s Wham City parties as a teenager.
Parts of your upcoming record were inspired by family history. How has this thematic concern informed the music that grounds it?
My family history is moreso embedded in the Aliese project as a whole—the name Aliese is a family name that’s passed down to the women in my family for a few generations now. My actual given name is a name that’s passed down to the men in my family, so legacy and living with your ancestors in mind has always been a part of my personal perspective.
I think that attitude manifests in this EP through me trying to create a piece of work that I believe will stand the test of time. Putting out a body of work in 2024 by myself, I accept that it may not reach as many people as I want it to right away. Hell, I doubt many people around me will take the time to listen to it through—we’re too inundated with content and I understand as a music consumer myself that it can be a big ask now to get people to listen to music by a new artist.
So going into making this, I wanted to make this EP to really be a thesis statement for the entire Aliese project. So that two albums from now, as more and more folks discover my music, this contained world that I’ve built will still hold up for those who reach back in my catalog and it will be clear that everything that I make moving forward is coming from this same place.
In the past, you’ve talked about how you have spent a lot of time in the music industry chasing dreams that weren't your own. Does this new record differ from previous projects?
This record feels different to past projects I’ve been involved in that I’m putting myself out there solely. I wrote all of this record, played almost all of what’s on the record myself, heavily creative directed the packaging surrounding the music, and just had full autonomy over this release in a way that I haven’t had in previous creative endeavors. That was really important to me to have here because I’ve experienced having my contributions to projects minimized or not acknowledged wholly.
While I was contributing to these past projects, I was also figuring out who I was as an artist and what I wanted to say. This EP is a culmination of that journey. Aliese is my personal statement and an unabashed expression of self. That feels different to what I've been involved in before.
Aliese is a brand new project—where do you see it going in the future, after the release of your first record?
I miss playing music in a band so my plan is to put together a band and start playing live this summer. I’d like to make this my primary touring band project. My other immediate next step is to find a manager. Currently, putting this record out is my full time job! I want support so that I can have more space to make new music and live life. I’m pleased with this “I-did-everything-myself” release, but that attitude is also very isolating. Being able to play music with people and collaborating with people in my corner who are excited to grow this project with me is necessary for me to sustain this long term.
Long term goals would be 1—play stadiums. I want to hear it loud. 2—To get resources so that I can sustain myself and the project. 3—To touch people’s lives. Spread the message of the original Aliese!
