Based in Orlando, Florida, artist and songwriter Charles Edward Carrier records under the moniker Jim Calico. Drawing on a range of influences, Carrier makes what he describes as “R&B music for the past, present, and future,” with elements of hip hop, electronic, soul and folk coalescing into a distinctively moody style.
There is much space for variation within the Jim Calico sound. Latest single ‘Come Through’ leans into an almost industrial territory, its abrasive electro sound coupled with Carrier’s sensual vocals to produce a song at once brooding and groove laden.
However, an older single is finding renewed urgency. First released back in 2019, ‘Land of Crow’ leans further into folk territory, a patient, slow-burning track that builds in subtle intensity. Confronting national wounds, the song reaches back to the original pain in an attempt to chart its continued presence, finding not just violence and cruelty but a loss of agency that far outlasts emancipation or any of the following efforts at equality.
With ‘Land of Crow’, Jim Calico evokes the past to highlight how little has changed. Confronting how to be black is to be asked to forgive crimes that never faced justice. To do so without anger or retribution. To be asked to buy into a country of dreams in the full knowledge that those dreams were forgotten long ago, and likely never existed. “I wrote it to help heal some of my own personal wounds,” Calico explains. “I hope it helps others still struggling with hatred and pain. Black Lives Matter.”
I’ll sing your soul to sleep, underneath your hanging tree
where the elders swing and twilight’s dim.
Fire burns, wood line glows, hooded men ride off like ghosts
linen face hides their grin.
Time moves on, the young folks grow
forgot their dreams in the Land of crow
where broken men hum songs to cope
where my mama said I should forgive you
and the good book says you gotta let it goIn the Land of Crow
You can find Jim Calico on Bandcamp, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
