The Casey Smith Project releases new single ahead of SpringFest

Story and photos by Aaron Thomas

The Casey Smith Project opens for Sundog at SpringFest on Saturday, April 18 in the Student Recreation Center.

The Casey Smith Project, a Fairbanks-based indie and R&B band, released a new single called “Can’t Pick Up the Phone” ahead of their performance at SpringFest this last weekend; it blends soul influences with indie rock. The song is about leaving past relationships behind when “everything's kind of scattered and you don't have it together.”

The Casey Smith Project’s performance at SpringFest consisted of a trio of Casey Smith on guitar, Morgan Huff on drums, and Eric Barker on keyboard. 

Morgan Huff is a Fairbanks-based drummer who plays with other local artists such as Johnny J, a blues and folk artist. Eric Barker plays in other bands such as Ana Lemma, an avant garde progressive rock band. In the Casey Smith Project, Barker plays a Nord keyboard for organ and ambient sounds and a Moog synthesiser for basslines. 

Founded in 2016, the Casey Smith Project is the brainchild of local artist Casey Smith. The group blends indie and shoegaze influences with jazz and R&B accents to create their signature sound. While their earlier albums rely on looping and ambient effects, their new sound lends itself more to live performance and pop music. Smith began his journey with music as a child when his parents were gospel singers. He felt he “grew up around music” and both of his parents were songwriters.

“I had buddies that were really into jazz and R&B and stuff, and so I started writing more soulful music and pop music,” Smith said. 

While the group was initially just Casey Smith as a solo artist, he began calling it the Casey Smith Project at the suggestion of a friend. “ I recall a friend just telling me, you should just call it a project, because you're kind of changing and you're kind of the main person, and everybody kind of comes around, because it revolves around you,” Smith said. 

He picked up guitar and started performing in local bands in his early 20s. His earliest band, Thought Trade, played mainly instrumental songs, influenced by experimental rock bands such as Aphex Twin.

When he left Thought Trade he took with him five songs that he wrote and later released in a 2016 EP. After the EP was released, he played a show at KSUA Alaska Live with Laurie Neufeld. After cycling through a couple lineups of other musicians, he began calling the group the Casey Smith Project. 

At the beginning of the Casey Smith Project, his musical influences were Modest Mouse and Radiohead. His 2021 album “Loose Face” was heavily influenced by “looping, guitar looping and layers.”

His 2023 album “Red Lights and Whiskey” draws on indie rock influences from bands like Tame Impala. 

Casey Smith, middle, with the Casey Smith Project sings to UAF students on April 18 in the Student Recreation Center.

Smith's songwriting process usually begins with a chord progression or a melody. “By nature, I'm not a natural lyricist,” said Smith. He typically composes songs on an acoustic guitar and later works out arrangements of the other parts of the song.

“I usually pick up the guitar and just strum it, and then kind of fake lyrics over the top of it to get a melody and record it,” said Smith. 

Smith typically records at several friends’ studios in Anchorage. He records the various parts of a song and compiles them in a music editing software called Logic. While his lineup constantly changes, he has been the primary songwriter of the group since its inception. 

“I don't have a full-time band, per se, these days. So I just write songs by myself, and then I'll hire friends or session drummers or whoever I need to fill the gaps with the instruments I can't play personally,” Smith said. 

Smith’s main electric guitar is a Fender Jazzmaster, but he also uses a Gretsch Falcon semi-hollow body guitar and a Gibson J-45 acoustic guitar for smaller sets. 

“I’m excited to have a new song out and some videos and stuff to go with it, and I'm looking forward to people enjoying it,” said Smith.