In a departure from the typical Gen Z route of confessional songwriting, indie musician Alec Duckart – also known as Searows – instead takes inspiration from fish guts, shipwrecks and death. “Bones and whales and the ocean in general,” he explains. “The violent, monster type of ocean has always been really fascinating and terrifying to me.”
This dark maritime thread is woven through his fantastic second album, Death in the Business of Whaling. It’s the first project the 26-year-old Oregon native has released since gaining a mass of new fans, having opened for pop stars such as Gracie Abrams, Ethel Cain and Matt Maltese on their recent tours. Duckart – who rose to online fame as a teenager singing about isolation and heartbreak in the throes of the pandemic – first became known on TikTok for his gossamer voice paired with candid but poetic lyrics that brought to mind Sufjan Stevens or Arlo Parks.
