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Innovative horn player, producer and songwriter CJ  Camerieri returns with his deeply collaborative CARM  project. CARM II, the second album due out this fall with  37d03d, was produced in Minneapolis by Ryan Olson  and features Edie Brickell, Sid Sriram, Kristian  Matsson, Justin Vernon, Gabriella Smith, Sean  Carey and others. It is a genre-defying, heartfelt  exploration of the possibilities in provocative music-  making and provides a homespace for a profound variety  of voices.   

Where the first record used horns in place of other  instruments, CARM II places them even more prominently  in the musical texture. The experience of playing live  shaped this approach. “Standing at the front of the stage  was a new experience for me and I wanted to create a  record of songs that justified my being there.” On CARM  II, there is no mistaking that the lead “singer” of this band  is Camerieri’s horn. CJ also wanted to feature bandmate  Trever Hagen, who takes on both production and  performance roles.   

The featured artists on CARM II have opined  on their various roles in this project. Brickell contacted  Camerieri asking him to participate in her short-form  songwriting project that she introduced on social media  during the pandemic. Camerieri and Olson were in the  middle of writing songs for the record, and one stood out  as perfect for Brickell’s request. Sent as a work-in-  progress, she quickly responded, writing the first verse  and chorus to what would become “More and More.”  They knew it needed to be fully realized. Says Brickell,  “CJ’s trumpet melodies and phrases inspired ‘More and  More.’ I just listened to him and followed his lead, trusted  what came to mind and sang it. It all flowed from his  music.”   

“For ‘I Fall’ Ryan and I created the basic track and I really  struggled to write on it. It wasn’t in song form, and I  couldn’t find my way into making it a coherent thought.”  CJ thought of Gabriella Smith, one of the leading  composers of our day, and on a whim sent her the track.  Smith sent fragments to experiment with and send back to  her as she rode out the pandemic in the Norwegian  countryside. After 3 months, she then sent him a fully  realized score of horns/vocals. The result is a testament to  the visionary composer’s incredible ingenuity. “That this  music was in Smith’s imagination and then fully notated is  mind boggling to me.”   

“The Ones You Love” was the last song written for the  record. CJ had been arranging and playing horns on Sid  Sriram’s forthcoming debut, falling in love with Sriram’s  voice and style. The song came from a jam session at  with Andrew Broder on keys, Evan Slack on guitar,  Chris Bierden on bass, and Hagen on drum machine. CJ  and Sid trade epic lines back and forth, celebrating  vulnerability and virtuosity in tandem. 

Track Listing:
A 1/ Aptap (4:19)
2/ Essex Girl (2:22)
3/ The Ones You Love (feat. Sid Sriram) (4:27)
4/ Breaks (5:20)
5/ More and More (feat. Edie Brickell) (5:10)
B 6/ Saturn (3:46)
7/ New Eyes (3:43)
8/ A Void (feat. Mike Noyce) (5:02)
9/ I Fall (feat. Gabriella Smith) (4:39)
10/ The Great Divide (5:11)


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