Carmichael Bends Genres at WFYI's Small Studio

WFYI's October 2018 Small Studio Session is here and this month we’re featuring the work of Indianapolis Americana band Carmichael. 

Some bands have trouble fitting into one genre, even shun the idea of sticking to a single style of music, and Carmichael is no exception. A step softer than rock, a notch harder than folk, and a sound that stops just short of going full country, the band prides themselves on making music that can bounce between genres.

Carmichael started in 2015 in Durham, North Carolina as a project between best friends Eric Carmichael and Nick Christie. The Marion, Indiana natives traveled to a Brooklyn, New York recording studio where they met drummer, Costin Ritter. Eric’s cousin Lindsay Harness joined the group a few months later on bass, and keyboard player Jamie Mahan came along soon after. The majority of the group’s songs start in the minds of Nick, Eric, and Lindsay with the rest of the band filling out the song once the lyrics and melody are put together. For Lindsay, many of her songs begin as broad themes from journaling that she’ll then bring to the rest of the group. Nick and Eric say they do a lot of their songwriting together.

Each member of the band seems to have a different taste in music, from Father John Misty to Arctic Monkeys, Warren Zevon to Dawes. Bassist Lindsay Harness explains that this allows them to create music that doesn’t fit into a single genre. This genre-bending helps them fit with many different acts at their live shows. Carmichael is currently working on a new album called “Memories Are Rolling Credits.”

Find the entire Small Studio Session from Carmichael at https://www.wfyi.org/programs/small-studio-sessions