New Album “Universed” Marks a Turning Point for Carlton Rara
- Miles Coleman
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
There is a moment, just before movement begins, when everything is still yet charged. Universed lives in that space. Across 12 tracks and 52 minutes, Carlton Rara delivers an album that feels less like a declaration and more like a state of being, shaped by rhythm, awareness, and an unspoken invitation to slow down and listen differently. This record marks a turning point in his artistic path, not through rupture, but through deepening.
Primarily a percussionist, Rara builds his music from the inside out. Pulse comes first, then breath, then story. This approach gives Universed its grounded momentum. The album moves fluidly between reggae, ska influenced grooves, blues textures, and Haitian traditional rhythms without ever feeling assembled. Each element appears because it belongs there. The fluid exchange between Haitian Creole and English reinforces this sense of inevitability, as if the songs are choosing their own language.
What defines Universed is its emotional balance. The album holds joy without gloss and gravity without heaviness. Celebration coexists with inquiry, warmth shares space with quiet resistance. Rather than delivering conclusions, Rara opens doors toward vulnerability, toward presence, toward the possibility of disarmament in both personal and collective forms. The sound palette remains intimate and spacious. Guitarist Miguel Castro and bassist Christian Duperray contribute with restraint and sensitivity, anchoring the music while allowing it room to breathe. Mixed by Rara and mastered by Simon Derasse, the production favors clarity over polish, preserving texture, air, and human imperfection.
Universed does not ask to be consumed quickly. It asks to be met. In a cultural moment driven by speed and saturation, Carlton Rara offers something quietly defiant, a work that unfolds at the pace of awareness itself.
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