Searows

Searows is the indie-folk project of Alec Duckart (he/him), a Kentucky-born, Oregon-raised singer-songwriter and guitarist. His debut album, Guard Dog (released September 30, 2022), was written, recorded, and produced by Alec alone, on a glitchy old laptop, with GarageBand, between his 21st and 22nd birthdays.

While Alec is extremely private and reserved in person, he holds little back in his music. On the 13 tracks of Guard Dog, as well as the follow up single House Song, his songwriting is intensely vulnerable, full of plaintive ruminations on how to know and hold oneself within complicated relationships. A particular challenge for the socially anxious, one of the album's throughlines is about learning to talk: finding your voice, and using it, especially in the times and places you feel small.

At 23, Alec is just growing into himself, but listener responses to his music suggest it resonates for people well beyond young adulthood. An A&R wrote to Alec:

Your lyricism is poetry that is absolute in its immediacy, and your voice delivers those words with heartbreaking beauty. I think your songs unfold stories that reward me as a listener repeat after repeat, which is the greatest thing a song can ever do.