Singer/songwriter/pianist Kramer might not be known to many but he is a Grammy-winning composer( He worked on J Ivy‘s Grammy-winning album The Poet Who Sat By the Door) and has worked on numerous projects as a session musician. His latest project
Sitting Alone Suite is a 4-track body of work that dives into topics such as political unrest, social media addiction, daily struggles and self-awareness. The project is a collaboration of sorts as Kramer recruits Cellist Alex Brinkman, drummer Dane Zone with Brandon Meeks on the bass and mix engineer Benjamin Tierney to help glue it all together.

 

The project begins with “Sitting Alone in Carmel”, an instrumental piece that is multi-layered and cinematic. The track starts with a melancholic cello arrangement, followed by reflective keys and a pulsating bass riff before the percussions come into play. The way the track progresses is quite refreshing and each instrument slowly rises to a fever pitch at certain parts. Listeners can surely feel the tension and resolution as the track transitions from section to section before it hits a crescendo towards the end and everything comes to a rest. This is followed by “Alignment”, an experiment funk-pop offering that ticks so many boxes it’s somewhat hard to categorize correctly. The funk bassline, snapping drums and rich percussions all play alongside Kramer’s reverberated vocals. Here, the singer/producer embodies the concept of less is more as he feds us with just a bit of melodic spice while allowing the rousing backdrop to be the focal point.

 

Next up is “Sitting Alone” which pairs Kramer’s laidback vocal runs over a revised instrumentation of the opening track. Here, Kramer digs deep into the real-time issues and the current state of affairs that has everyone in a chokehold. Lines like “Worlds so sick posting helta drama/I really give no shiz/ algorithmic/Manipulation/Separating nations Perpetuating hatred” encapsulates his candid thoughts about the never-ending cycle of daily struggles, internal strife and social media fervour. Not one to hold back, he approaches it decisively and even adds some humour to it while imploring us to log out from the virtual world and go outside and experience the world before it’s too late. “Free” is an electrifying and anthemic piece that is short but powerful in terms of its subject matter which centers on breaking free of the mental chains and living life to the fullest. The fusion of rock-pop elements and the mantra-like vocal runs also ramps up the passion behind the track. After this, the project then closes out with “Sitting Alone (Radio Edit)”.

 

Overall,Sitting Alone Suite is a cohesive, albeit short but insightful body of work that centers on being our true selves and escaping from the algorithmic world that is only out to distract us from our true purpose in life.

Kramer was also in the Chicago-based duo Tensei (meaning “Heaven Star” in Japanese) with Midas Wells.

Keep up with Kramer | Linktree: Website: Facebook: Twitter: Instagram

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