THAT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE THE CHIPPEWA RIVER. S. Carey’s sophomore album Range Of Light is out April 1 on Jagjaguwar Records.

Coming into S. Carey’s sophomore full-length (and third release), you’d expect a record with more poise and maturity. And he absolutely delivers. The Eau Claire-based singer/songwriter/jazz player/Bon Iver member blends his influences into a beautiful medley of songs in Range Of Light, teeming with the natural world that surrounds us.

Carey is soft-spoken and methodical, taking long pauses before he speaks about this record.

“I draw from nature a lot. I draw from getting outside and being out there and having that be a huge part of my life for a lot of reasons,” Carey said. “I don’t consider myself super religious or anything, but it’s just that I think that there is some sort of spiritual power of nature and some of that comes out in a couple of the songs.”

It’s no surprise that he borrowed the title of the record from renowned conservationist and writer John Muir –  which he connects with on the spirituality of nature. Carey uses metaphors of nature to break down the oft-forgotten complexity of love. This shines in the late-addition to the record “Alpenglow.” The song tackles the beauty that exists in marriage and fatherhood, parrying softly between the lightly stepping piano chords and washing guitars.

“Lyrically, I like to use things in nature as metaphor to things that happen in real life. This record to me is about relationships and about my marriage and about having a baby and the ups and downs of all that. I like the purity those (natural) images can bring.”

The maturity shines through in Range Of Light’s production. Carey solders together complex melodies and rhythms paired with sweeping, ethereal washes of sound. Carey cites Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon with a lot of the sweeping gestures on the album, like the emotionally-driven top of second single “Crown Of Pines.”

Vernon isn’t the only addition to Range Of Light. Carey’s touring band joined him in the studio throughout the process of writing and laying down the record. Bassist Jeremy Boettcher, guitarist Nick Ball, and multi-instrumentalists Ben Lester and Zach Hanson all contributed to the album’s overall success.

“Zach and Ben and I all being drummers, we have different fortes in our drumming and percussion. Some of the songs we’d all track at the same time with different shakers and percussion instruments. That was really fun.”

Those rhythms resonate through the record. It’s plain to see Carey is still a percussionist at heart when you try to tap along to any of his songs. He deftly travels between unique time signatures and rhythms that give every song a strong sense of movement and direction, pulling your heart along with it.
Carey said one of the major differences between making his debut –  All We Grow –  and Range Of Light comes in his studio experiences.

“There’s so much you can do in the studio as far as creativity of using the things that are there,” Carey said. “Not only instruments, but also recording techniques. With this record is coming at it in a little different place, a little more refined, a little more thought out and more mature. It has that sound reflected in the songs and especially in the sound quality of the record.”

And the sound of the album shows that maturity. The album is lush and organic, much like the natural world Carey finds inspiration in.

“When the record was starting to form into itself after a year or year and a half of recording, I thought ‘What’s the big picture of all these songs?’ and I just noticed that all the songs are on this spectrum of happiness,” Carey said on the Range Of Light’s title. “A lot of them are looking backwards and kind of reflecting on things that were hard, even back into childhood. I don’t remember why it hit me, but I could see that phrase being the range of light in someone’s life.”

A Conversation With S. Carey will take place at The Local Store, 205 N. Dewey St., on April 2 at 7pm, featuring a live interview with Sean Carey and a listening party for Range Of Light.

Carey will also play Schofield Auditorium at UW-Eau Claire –  his alma mater  – on April 26 with opener White Hinterland. Tickets are available through UW-Eau Claire.

Range Of Light is out on April 1 on Jagjaguwar Records.