BREAK ME OPEN: S. Carey's new album will feature the most emotionally revealing songs the young artist has released to date. (Photo by Peter Larson)

A new stirring offering from a pivotal Chippewa Valley-based artist is waking up fans who have been sleeping on a heartfelt upcoming album.

S. Carey (Sean Carey) just realized a new song, “Waking Up,” from his upcoming album Break Me Open, out April 22 via Jagjaguwar. The new album sees the songwriter, producer, polymathic musician, and longtime Bon Iver member confront a period of life-changing pain and loss, defying the darkness through a vow to stay present and vulnerable.

Over the four, four-lined verses of “Waking Up,” S. Carey moves through multiple stages of grief, turning the initial shock of heartbreak into deep sympathy for his loved ones. Accompanied by a heavenly string arrangement from Rob Moose (Bon Iver, Phoebe Bridgers) and a hymnal piano and synth progression from Eli Teplin, Carey exposes his inner self, sheds new skin and realizes he has emerged a better person. 

“ ‘Waking Up’ is a song I wrote with Eli Teplin,” Carey said. “Eli had sent me a few ideas; one was a vibey, contemplative piano loop. I really loved the pacing of it – kind of in time, but kind of rolling like gentle waves. The lyrics lay bare what I was going through at the time: grief and heartbreak. And the minimal instrumentation with Rob Moose’s beautiful strings mark a soft moment on the record.”

A music video to accompany the song was released today alongside the single. The music video was filmed at The Hive in Eau Claire by North Studios and Ivy Media, and features a spellbinding live performance of the song while sitting at a piano. 

Break Me Open is an album about love, fatherhood, and the future. It's about trying to know oneself better than the day before, and its 10 songs are both S. Carey’s most personal and collaborative to date, bringing more voices into his creative community than ever before. He engineered and produced the album with Chris Messina and Zach Hanson, recording it between Eau Claire and Gualala, California, as well as a number of satellite locations in between. Contributions include co-writes from Eli Teplin (on “Waking Up”), Ben Lester, Taylor Deupree and others, and while S. Carey can be heard on synthesizers, piano, harmonium, drums, and guitar throughout, additional instrumentation includes horns by CJ Camerieri (CARM), and more from Carey’s live band.

This spring and summer, in between dozens of amphitheater shows with Bon Iver, S. Carey will bring the music of Break Me Open to 20+ headlining tour dates across the U.S. The tour starts April 28 at the Masonic Temple in Eau Claire. Stops include Chicago’s Lincoln Hall, Brooklyn’s Public Records, D.C.’s Miracle Theatre, L.A.’s Zebulon and more that are listed below and on-sale now. Find tickets at scarey.org/shows and pre-order the album at scarey.org.