Kramer is a singer-songwriter, producer, composer, and musician who hails from Chicago. In 2022, he won a Grammy Award for his production work on J Ivy’s “The Poet Who Sat By The Door.” Kramer lacks a social media presence, and that clearly hasn’t gotten in the way of his success. He has just released his latest EP “Sitting Alone Suite,” which combines his jazzy bariTenor vocal with piano and beats.
The EP starts off with the song “Sitting Alone in Carmel.” The song is based on Carmel-By-The-Sea, an ocean side town in Monterey County, California, just 46 miles from Santa Cruz. This song serves as an incredible introduction to Kramer’s musical and production talents. The track is an instrumental, dominated by moving strings and bright pianos. It features performances from Alex Brinkman on cello, Dane Zone (dane.zone) on drums, Brandon Meeks playing bass, and Kramer performing the gorgeous piano. The song builds steadily throughout its 3-minute run, mimicking the intensity of the dangerous waves.
Jazzy drums and a heavy bass line start off “Alignment.” Vocally, this song pulls from sounds of the late 90s and early 2000s. It’s experimental and funky, with swirling synths. The song’s only flaw is that it doesn’t go on longer. It lasts for only 1 minute. The lyrics of the song are in the form of a mellowly delivered chant; “Mind body and soul aligned, It’s the time to shine, Not gonna happen, While we living online.” The lyrics call for us to go outside and experience the world first-hand and not through the internet. It calls for us to adventure into nature, to witness the waves and the sand on our feet. Kramer doesn’t have any social media presence, and this song explains why he does without it.
“Sitting Alone” featuring Tensei, was written about the dangerous waters on the California coast. In this song, he compares the dangerous waves and the fear they bring, to America’s current political and media state. He talks about the algorithm on social media being toxic, and making the world sick. The song is about freeing ourselves from our phone and the online media world. “I’m sitting alone with my hands on my phone, And there’s nothing to see, I’m sitting alone put my phone in my bag, it’s okay to be free.” The lyrics dive into the concept that the online world is like a prison, and life without a phone and online access, creates a sense of liberation. A moving bass line and soulful piano carry the song to a greater level of artistry. Another version of this song “Sitting Alone – Radio Edit” is featured at the end of the EP. The flavors lean a little more in the pop world.
I wrote this driving home from the grammys in February 2023 and stopped along the central california coast for a day break. During low tide, I walked pretty far out, where the riptides can
easily kill you if your not careful; captivated by the beauty of earth. my first instinct was to hum a melody (the piano riff) into my phone. As I heard the powerful waves crash and the tide rising, I reminded myself of the imminent danger I could be in and headed back to shore. On the way back I drew the parallel of the powerful ocean waves that can easily destroy the strongest human, to the ugly often anger driven and algorithm fed hatred we see in my country every election cycle. – Kramer
Kramer dives deeper into the feelings on “Sitting Alone” on his song “Free.” A jazzy piano is the standout sound of this track. Organs also fill in space. The song gives listeners a moment to reflect on the previous lyrics for 1 minute. “All we gotta do now is be free. All we gotta do now is be free.”
The words are a plea to people to think for themselves, and not allow automated content curation cloud their judgement, create fear, create anger, and ultimately create physical conflicts in the form of mass shootings, hate crimes, and the like. I hope the message gets heard. After laying down the song concept, I reached out to some friends to help me finish the music. But I composed the entire piece myself, the guys gave it a nice polished finish tho for sure. After the instrumental was finished and the main record was recorded, I remixed them using my sampler into the tracks called “Free” and “Alignment.” – Kramer
Listen to Sitting Alone Suite on Spotify now:
EP Credits:
Alex Brinkman – cello
Dane Zone – drums
Brandon Meeks – bass
Benjamin Tierney – engineering
Kramer – piano, vocals, words, composition
Written by Ryan Cassata
The post Kramer Reflects on the Impact of Online Media on Personal Freedom appeared first on ROCK THE PIGEON.