There is nowhere for Nick Carver to hide on ‘Stones You Throw’, and that seems to be exactly the point. Stepping away from the fuller sound of Nick Carver and the Mean Street Butchers, the Australian songwriter pares things back to stomping percussion, overdriven acoustic guitar, slide and a voice rough enough to carry the rest.
After two albums with the Mean Street Butchers, ‘The River’ and ‘Animals’, Carver’s return finds him sounding more exposed but no less imposing. ‘Stones You Throw’ has the directness of blues played in a small room, where every scrape of guitar and crack in the vocal becomes part of the song rather than something to smooth away.
Its subject is just as stripped of decoration. Carver writes about the ease with which people reduce someone to a reputation without bothering to ask what happened before it. Interestingly, it is the only song on his forthcoming November EP written from somebody else’s perspective.
“This guy from where I’m from, the town drunk, the weirdo, the ex-junkie, the bloke everyone knew but nobody really knew. What was his story before everyone decided who he was? And if he’s gone, does that make me the town weirdo now? Those questions became the heart of this song, a reminder that it’s easy to throw stones at someone without ever understanding how they got there.”
That question gives ‘Stones You Throw’ more weight than its tough exterior initially suggests. The swagger is there, but so is empathy, with Carver turning a familiar small-town character into a broader reflection on judgement, identity and who gets to tell somebody else’s story.
The accompanying video keeps things similarly direct, placing Carver, his guitar and his workwear aesthetic front and centre. Nothing feels overly dressed up, which suits a song built around refusing to let other people write the narrative for you.
‘Stones You Throw’ is out now, with Carver’s new EP arriving in November.
