“Mr. Carter comes from the improvised music scene of Vancouver, British Columbia, and he in particular went beyond his boundaries, often steering the overall sound. At the songs’ shallow ends he played pure, strong melody, but later he turned toward dark, clear subtones, the kind of thing the free-jazz musician Bill Dixon might have played if he’d been in this group, feeding his own sound, and sometimes the whole band’s, through echo and delay pedals. At one point he played an entire abstract unaccompanied solo, making a cloud of huge, sculptured resonance.”
– New York Times
“JP Carter’s muted trumpet steals the show, a distant Greek chorus whispering in your ear.”
– Spin
“J.P. Carter who is like the Kevin Shields of trumpet players. Carter ran his instrument through a couple delay/loop pedals, making it sound epic and weird and amazing.”
– Brooklyn Vegan
“Carter’s distinct, at times sharp-edged, at times serene trumpet tone is one of the most engaging aspects of the group sound…”
– The Squid’s Ear
“It wouldn’t be exactly right to say that Vancouver-based foursome Inhabitants straddle the border between jazz and rock. They have ignored that border completely, uniting the two factions under one flag and cross-breeding their citizens. While composed of four gifted soloists – trumpeter JP Carter, guitarist Dave Sikula, bassist Pete Schmitt and drummer Skye Brooks – this is truly a collective group, with a tight, cohesive attack. Just when you think you have the band pegged as a mathy post-rock unit, it shifts gears with a pungent jazz head, which then gets swallowed by a howl of feedback and electronic glitches and hums.
The group’s sophomore CD kicks off with a big bang of swirling noise, which gradually gels into the crunching rock of “Kurt’s Dirt”, an homage to the late Nirvana frontman with sly references to the band’s oeuvre tucked away inside. It’s apt allegiance given their shared affinity for couching pretty melodies inside screeching noise assaults. Case in point: the sunny pop melancholy of Schmitt’s “A Part Of You,” which sounds like the sort of ballad that might result from a Burt Bacharach/ Tortoise collaboration.
Carter and Sikula canvass a wide spectrum of sonic territory on their respective instruments, equally deft at coaxing memorable melodies and startling shapes. Over the loping beat of “Sad Friend,” Sikula begins a series of plangent Bill Frisell lines; Carter meets him with the same keening clarity from his horn. Schmitt and Brooks are an unfaltering rhythm section, whether hammering out intense prog-funk beats or exploding into clattering freedom. Hypnotic and dense, these Inhabitants occupy territory that will continue to yield riches with further exploration.”
– Down Beat Magazine **** (Inhabitants, The Furniture Moves Underneath)
JP Carter 