“If I had us just one wish, it would sound a little bit like this: I wish we had not been so petty when we were younger.” Full of bittersweet lyrics and twinkling guitars, TheSameThings, the newest release from the Denver-based Animal Electricity, finds singer C.P. Carrington and company exploring disillusionment, hopefulness, and the passage of time with grace and style.

But for Carrington, writing and singing his own songs was never a part of the plan. After moving to Denver in 2005, he responded to a “musicians wanted” Craigslist ad posted by Everett Ray, second cousin of rock ’n roll trailblazer Link Wray and a bassist with whom Carrington would form a close partnership that continues today. When their original singer left the band, Carrington happened to be the guy left standing closest to the mic. Though at first he sang, as he recalls, “so quiet that no one could hear me,” songs and confidence eventually followed. Over the next decade and a half, Carrington (usually with Everett and drummer Brian Prendergast in tow, along with a rotating cast that now includes multi-instrumentalist Chip Schoneberger) cut his teeth in Denver’s club scene in various projects, opening for artists like Nathaniel Rateliff (before he was that Nathaniel Rateliff), David Wax Museum, and Sarah Jaffe. In 2014, Carrington wrote music for the Colorado PBS documentary “Neal Cassady: The Denver Years,” an opportunity which even led him to play for some of Cassady’s surviving relatives at what had been Cassady and Kerouac's favorite Denver bar. After debuting Animal Electricity in 2015, the project’s 2018 release Beginning to See the Light garnered national radioplay and landed the band a spot on the NACC 200.   

TheSameThings, out October 2021, is Animal Electricity's most developed statement yet. Recorded in an isolated cabin in the middle of the Pike National Forest during 2020’s quarantine, its nine-song run reflects on joy and heartbreak in an earnest indie rock sing-speak reminiscent of Connor Oberst, Jeff Tweedy, and Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock. “Gold Plated (Kipling Speaks!)” continues Carrington’s streak writing about poets, setting Rudyard Kipling’s beloved “If” to music in the form of a gentle Harry Nilsson-esque lullaby. Musically, the record showcases the band’s deep song-sense as instrumentalists, with tight and detailed arrangements that go from whispers to shouts without sounding forced or difficult. Sonically, the record shines with a distinctive mix, courtesy of engineer Andy Tennant. Clocking in at just under 35 minutes, TheSameThings can be equally moving and lighthearted, whether in the car with the windows down or inside on a rainy day with headphones on.