Searows: Death in the Business of Whaling

"Portland, Oregon singer-songwriter Alec Duckart, who performs as Searows, broke through at the height of the post- Boygenius singer-songwriter wave: First, charming TikTok followers compared his voice to Phoebe Bridgers'; then, he earned support slots for Gracie Abrams and Ethel Cain; eventually, his single "House Song" racked up 80 million Spotify plays. But Duckart sets himself apart from his brooding contemporaries with sheer intensity, never diffusing vulnerable moments with a quip or an ironically upbeat chorus."

"Still, the same existential discomfort persists: "It's delusion, but it's peaceful/That this body is not your own," he sings on "Dirt." The characters that populate Death in the Business of Whaling fail to live up to others' expectations, and often feel fundamentally damaged: Across several songs, Duckart's narrators are in the "belly of the whale," they're on "a sinking boat," they're "like an insect." These songs inhabit a complex emotional middle ground, more likely to sit with difficult feelings than wallow or reach an optimistic conclusion."

Alec Duckart performs as Searows and rose during the post-Boygenius singer-songwriter wave, gaining TikTok comparisons to Phoebe Bridgers, support slots for Gracie Abrams and Ethel Cain, and 80 million Spotify plays for "House Song." Duckart distinguishes himself with sheer intensity, refusing to undercut vulnerability with irony, and uses sharp writing and theatrical vocal control, often layering tense multi-part harmonies. His second album, Death in the Business of Whaling, shifts toward mystery and abstract free-associative musings while maintaining existential discomfort. Narrators often feel damaged and trapped in images like a belly of the whale or a sinking boat, dwelling in a complex emotional middle ground rather than offering resolution.

Read at Pitchfork