New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Fast-rising alt-pop sensation carpetgarden (the musical pseudonym of singer-songwriter David Sweet) has released the official video for shiver-inducing standout track "lonely" to celebrate the release of their recently dropped EP WTF is even going on?
carpetgarden's wistful brand of DIY pop is enough to attract nostalgia obsessives, but it's their lyrics that have locked in leagues of loyalists. Their songwriting tackles growing up and into yourself - peppering personal anecdotes between themes of gender dysphoria and mental illness. Cohesively quilted to form a compelling narrative arc, WTF is even going on? is the artist's best music to date. They started teasing the EP release late last year when they dropped "IDC" - a sunny almost surfy slice of rock'n'roll that feels like if the
Beach Boys formed a supergroup with Blink 182, dropping visceral punch-lines over a bouncing, grungy beat. Ones To Watch called it "classic coming-of-age with cinematic themes and a non-binary twist that champions self-expression and not giving a damn about what others think." "mold," the second single, is a transportive love letter to those navigating depressive episodes. "lonely" is carpetgarden's answer to sadness - distorted vocals and garage influences offer up grunge fairycore at its finest. The intensity of both songs are perfectly offset by the darkly optimistic "
Adrenaline" and "da da song," while the ukulele-laden, ultra-exuberant "WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY!" conjures images of long drives down the PCH.
At just 21-years-old, carpetgarden has built a steady following and amassed over 50 million streams from DIY releases alone, including 2021's The Way He Looks EP which attracted a frenzy of organic tastemaker press, radio and streaming support. carpetgarden knew they were different from an early age. Coming out as gay as an adolescent, they began to embrace the term "non-binary" in their final years of high school. Already isolated from their traditional parents, they found solace in music: scouring Tumblr for imagery of gender-bending musicians, or dissecting
Velvet Underground lyrics. Images of Kurt Cobain taking to the stage in dresses or cardigans were particularly resonant.
Between carpetgarden's pure and incomparable sweetness and devil-may-care eccentricity, the soft-spoken creative is unapologetically building the soundtrack of a generation, using their music to narrate not only their life, but also the listeners.
Please visit https://www.carpet.garden/ to learn more.
