Beyond 'Encarta '97'
Gazing into the musical universe of Seattle's Sean Downey
Sean Downey is a 37-year-old Video Director & Editor, Animator, Songwriter, Digital Artist, and Sun Gazing Enthusiast from the Seattle area. In real life he's probably best known as a founding member of "The Fabulous Downey Brothers", a New Wave band he started… with his brother. But online, the popularity of his solo work as "Sean Downey" has eclipsed his work with TFDB, despite the Bros getting more marketing and having more mainstream connections [e.g. they’ve opened for B-52s and released a single with Fred Schneider].
In a sense, everything Sean writes could be a Bros song, but it really comes down to what he (or his bandmates) thinks would work better for the band -vs- being released under his own name1… or any one of the handful of other projects he releases music under — too many to cover here, but outside of “Sean Downey” my personal favorites are probably Blanc, Blanc and Sister Skeleton.
That said, I'm only going to be focusing on songs released under "Sean Downey", but there are hidden gems to be found among all his other projects as well.
Sean is in a rather unique position in that his sound seems to have evolved somewhat backwards compared how you might be used to musicians evolving — especially the more unconventional, self-produced artists... like Ween, for instance. They started out kinda goofy and lo-fi, but you could tell there was actual talent propping up all the wackiness — and as time went on they became more polished, serious, and conventional [read: boring].
Sean's earliest releases are your typical angsty, distorted guitar-driven songs that one might expect from a Seattle-area band, but as time went on it seems the less serious he became... even his production feels more lo-fi / bedroom-y and his songs start feeling a little less complex than on his early work [e.g. nuances like the outro to "Creative Differences" seem to disappear]. Even on more recent albums like "Rock & Roll", where he returns to a sound that's more guitar-heavy... it's generally a cleaner, thinner guitar sound than on his debut 20 years ago.
This seems to have been the result of rejecting the typical "Seattle sound" in combination with his love of New Wave, particularly DEVO and the B-52s... something that’s most evident with TFDB material, but it does leak into his solo work as well.
In my imagination I kinda made the music that I thought I was being inspired by…
Despite efforts to distance himself from the typical sound of Seattle, he does have one thing in common with a certain other Seattle-area group: most people only want to hear one particular song. But this time there’s a twist: it’s a song that’s nothing like anything else he's released (not even on album featuring it) — and, personally, I think it’s been totally mislabeled [more on that later].
The song in question is, of course, "▲.†. ENCARTA '97 .†.▲" — a "vaporwave" track released in 2014 that was kind of meant as a joke2 but went on to become the song that defines him to most people, in the online world anyway.
To put this into perspective: you would need to combine the plays of the top 8 Downey Bros songs on Spotify to equal the plays of just Encarta 97. Even compared to other "Sean Downey" songs, Encarta gets nearly double the plays of his 2nd most popular track.
There's really no denying that of all the various material he's released under various names, "▲.†. ENCARTA '97 .†.▲" is the song that most "defines" him as a musician to the world outside of Seattle.
While I do love a lot of Sean’s work, I have what some might consider a slightly spicy take on this: I don’t think Encarta is actually v a p o r w a v e at all.
Ignoring the fact it was made in jest — the slowed down "samples" aren't actually samples, so they lack a certain quality that tends to subconsciously connect you to a particular time period. That, combined with the song’s melody and synth sound used, would actually make me categorize it as some other flavor of synth-pop — like a lo-fi take on Slow Magic's "On Yr Side"... which I don't think would ever be labeled "vaporwave".
In fact, I’d argue "▲.†. CONNECTORMATION .†.▲" and "▲.†. WORLD'S SHOPPING MALL .†.▲" are more "vaporwave" than "Encarta 97"3.
Anyway... I could write another thousand words on why I think this, but half this article is now about a song I don't really even listen to, so I'm just gonna leave it at that. It's not a bad song, I just think he has other songs that are better and more interesting. This playlist is showcasing those songs and hopefully giving them some of the attention they deserve.
Juxtapose - Vidooch, 2003
From his first album, "Vidooch" — which was actually the name of band he formed to play these songs live after playing & recording them himself.
Creative Differences - Smother Lumpkins, 2008
This song features Chandra Farnsworth, one of Sean's longtime musical collaborators and Downey Bros bandmate... and apparently also his ex-wife. She was featured in and co-wrote his latest song and video, ENCOURAGE.
Clean Satan - Bink Poil, 2013
A stand-out track from his 2013 release — like Encarta, another case of not really sounding like anything else on the album. If I was his record producer, I would have encouraged him focus on this song and maybe aim for a tight 5-ish song EP based around it, instead of tacking it on the end of an album that it doesn’t really sound anything like.
▲.†. ENCARTA '97 .†.▲ — ▲.†. ATLUS VADE .†.▲, 2014
It’s that song.
▲.†. CONNECTORMATION .†.▲ — ▲.†. ATLUS VADE .†.▲, 2014
I would argue this track is more v a p o r w a v e than Encarta, especially at .95% playback speed… the slight digital warping really enhances the retro-futuristic abandoned strip mall vibe.
Zazimo - Phlegm, 2016
If no one told me, I would assume this was some Röyksopp track… perhaps the vocal loop at the end might be a little too… IDK, “jitterbug-y” for Röyksopp, but say it’s a demo track and I wouldn’t second guess it. Also: I’m just seeing the video for the first time, and… lol wtf are they doing?
What Would You Do? - Phlegm, 2016
I liked this song for a while before I saw the video, but the video is actually really great…one of my favorites, in fact. Something about it works just right.
Full Support - Phlegm, 2016
While I thought the last video and song had an almost perfect synergy, I kinda feel the opposite about this one. I like the song, but... the video has a lot of conflicting imagery that takes away from the song, IMO. Again, If I was his producer / manager… I’d set this one aside to work on a different video treatment.
Being Alone - Phlegm, 2016
Repeated claims of apathy over a sample from Streets of Rage — wonder what Alanis would have to say about that? Anyway, the sample is from Level 8, but the video is made mostly from footage of levels 1 and 2 (with album art for Phlegm hidden throughout).
Guess What - Phlegm, 2016
Not much to add… I get this stuck in my head sometimes. That’s what.
Fall Into The Maze - Red Star, 2017
This is my most listened to song of his. At first it almost feels like 2 different songs — the verses don’t prepare you for the chorus being this amazing earworm… that for some reason reminds me of 90s hip-pop… and I can’t explain why. At first I kinda felt like the chorus was too good for the verse, but over time it grew on me and now I can’t really imagine it any other way.
Keep You From Waking Up - Red Star, 2017
A song about examining the things — whether it be your physical surroundings or a mental state — that are keeping you from achieving your personal goals, or waking up from a dream.... or something.
Don't Lose Control - Red Star, 2017
(ಠ⌣ಠ)
Shred The Secrets - Red Star, 2017
Another contender for “more vaporwave than Encarta” - made using a sample of “DK Island Swing” featured in the first level of the 1994’s Donkey Kong Country on Super Nintendo.
Cold Crystals - Alaska: Glacier Bay, 2019
One day while thrifting Sean found a VHS of a documentary from 1993 called “Alaska: Glacier Bay” and decided to write music to accompany it. I’d say this too, [except for a few songs] would be in the mix for “more vaporwave than Encarta”.
How To Hurt - Alaska: Glacier Bay, 2019
...do I?
Get a Bite - Permanent, 2020
A song about transitions – with the almost mismatched chorus and verses demonstrating the bipolar nature of reality.
Permanent - Permanent, 2020
This song was written in about 10 minutes; the lyrics are snippets of conversations mixed with some self-deprecation.
Everything's Complicated - Rock & Roll, 2021
Probably one of his most “aggressive” songs since his debut… but it’s very much an “indie rock” type of aggressive, not “grungy/angsty” aggressive. That said, the shout-y vocals in the verses are kinda reminiscent of Billy Corgan.
Superstar - Rock & Roll, 2021
This song is about someone Sean admired but they would always let their insecurities get in the way of doing what they really want to do. Made with Pixies, Weezer and other alt 90s rock vibes in mind.
There does seem to be a pattern of slightly more serious/personal songs going into the "Sean Downey” basket.
And most likely a play on CYBEREALITYライフ’s “E N C A R T A '98 野生動物” from 2013
And those unicode characters in the titles... again, Slow Magic did it 2 years before this song was released with tracks like ☾ and ◯ from the album ▲. I kinda feel like this was more of a Witch-house / Chillwave thing, while Vaporwave was more about Kanji / Kanji-like characters.