Chicago-based songwriter Carl Hauck unveils an affecting folk sound on “Monumented,” appealing across both sparse acoustic-set introspection and soaring multi-layered vocal expanses. The latter’s beauty comes in the “oh, to be monumented someday too” sequence, where Kelsey Wild’s serenely melodic vocals bolster Hauck’s calmly effective tone. Lush keys pair with a steady rhythmic backing alongside the caressing acoustic guitars, reminding fondly of Sufjan Stevens in the dynamic tones, especially upon the glimmering effect past the three-minute turn. The result is a thoroughly consuming production, which also features multi-instrumentalist Jake Hawrylak, in addition to Hauck on vocals, guitar, and piano.
The track takes inspiration from from Rachel Cusk’s Outline trilogy, where the narrator — a recently divorced author — details the mundane day-to-day of her life. “At the risk of becoming one of the characters who talks at and/or projects onto the narrator, I wanted to write a song about the futility of being heard, considered, and remembered in a world that can be so quick to ignore, color in, or even erase,” Hauck says. “It’s a song about quiet, everyday violence, dressed up in a sonic warmth and intimacy that might just lull you into listening.”
“Monumented” represents the second single Hauck’s the upcoming album Death Farm, out on October 17th.
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
