Curt Kiser must create music. He doesn’t have a choice. It’s a compulsion that dates back to a childhood in Lebanon, Ohio, and extends through an adulthood in Cincinnati that started as soon as he graduated high school — first as a guitarist in the scrappy indie pop band Enlou, followed by a stint in likeminded sonic merrymakers Pomegranates and, finally, through his current outfit, Carriers, in which he is the only permanent member.
“I’ve been playing music live in front of people for 20 years now,” Kiser says during a recent extended phone conversation with CityBeat. “I’m 35 now. I was 15 when I first started playing out. That was more in the Dayton and Springboro area. By the time I was 17, we were playing in Cincinnati. I would play a varsity basketball game, and then after the game, me and my buddy (and Enlou bandmate), Ben Rush, we would say ‘bye’ to everybody in the locker room and run to Cincinnati to go play a show.”
A lot has happened since Kiser was a 6-foot-5-inch center for Ridgeville Christian. He’s written hundreds of (mostly unreleased) songs while also toiling away in myriad part- and full-time jobs — from slinging pizzas at LaRosa’s to cashiering at Whole Foods to waiting tables at the late, great Over-the-Rhine restaurant Pleasantry — to support his musical obsession.
The most important current development is the freshly minted release of his second full-length outing as Carriers, Every Time I Feel Afraid, a collection of songs informed by experiences both recent and far-flung. Kiser wrote and recorded — with the help of various contributing musicians — the album’s nine tracks over the last few years, often starting the process by singing lyrics into his phone before eventually adding his mood-altering guitar textures and full-band accompaniment.
Opener “In My Head” immediately sets a melancholic tone that persists throughout the album’s 41-minute running time, with Kiser’s typically even-tempered yet affecting voice delivering the following admission: “It gets in my head, the worry/I’m misled, I’ve misread.” Aided by atmospheric synths, pulsing bass and rhythmic nuance, the song closes with questions one can imagine Kiser has asked of himself for years: “Have a choice to make/Will I take it? Will I make it?/Have a choice to make/It’s up to me now.”
Up next is the aptly titled “Motion,” a jaunty gem featuring the drumming of The National’s Bryan Devendorf, whose signature propulsion graces a handful of the album’s tracks, and the persistent bass of The War on Drugs’ Dave Hartley, who also appears on multiple songs. (It doesn’t take long to realize the influence that the duo’s bands have had on Carriers’ sonic predilections.)
The introspection continues with “Sometimes,” which floats by via acoustic and slide guitars as Kiser sings about a life that has not yet ended up where he wants it to go. The dreamy “Blurry Eyes” layers horns into the pensive proceedings — an ace move that highlights Kiser’s production acumen, the work of a guy drawing from two decades of musical immersion to create something both familiar and uniquely his own.
The title track, “Every Time I Feel Afraid,” concludes the album’s impressive opening quintet of songs, a slow-burning ode to a lover who has become a vital touchstone in a world spinning out of control. Backed by a curious but effective drum machine, acoustic and electric guitars and otherworldly synths, Kiser almost whispers the lyrics, his simple delivery penetrating deeper than one would anticipate.
Every Time I Feel Afraid is Carriers’ first effort for Brassland, the indie label that describes itself as “artist-operated and started in 2001 by Alec Hanley Bemis and twin brothers/musicians Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner, both best known for their work with The National.” Yes, the same The National made up of five Cincinnati natives, including the aforementioned Devendorf, who also played drums on Carriers’ 2019 debut, Now Is the Time for Loving Me, Yourself & Everyone Else, which won Album of the Year at the 2019 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards.
Kiser is a longtime fan of The National, thus it was no surprise that he would introduce himself to Devendorf when he noticed the drummer eating in a LaRosa’s where Kiser worked at the Cincinnati Zoo several years back. The two crossed paths a couple more times before Devendorf unexpectedly witnessed Kiser playing a live gig at a local brewery. It seems inevitable that the two would eventually collaborate.
“First of all, he is a really nice person,” Devendorf says during a recent phone conversation. “And then when I actually saw him play, I was smitten at first sight. I thought he was great. His music just spoke to me. It has a nice feel. It sounded normal but it wasn’t. There are a lot of extended sections and half bars and little interesting things going on. He’s just been easy to work with. He’s full of great ideas. I’ve learned so much about recording and songwriting with him.”
Kiser grew up in a musical household. His dad played guitar in various bands. Classic rock radio was a staple throughout Curt’s childhood, with his dad constantly quizzing him about the guitar players on a given track.
“My dad taught me music,” he says. “We grew up playing guitar together. He showed me The Eagles and Lynyrd Skynyrd and Heart and ‘Barracuda.’ My dad, he can just shred any old rock song. He showed me Tom Petty. He doesn’t like all Bob Dylan, but he likes some of it. I thought Bob Dylan was so cool, and he said, ‘Son, he can’t sing very well though.’ I was like, ‘But that’s what is so cool about it. I think he sings beautifully!’”
It was only a matter of time before Kiser started playing in bands of his own, starting with Enlou in the mid-2000s. The local music scene was a creative inspiration for Kiser and a bevy of other bands that sprouted up around the same time.
“It kind of meant everything,” Kiser says of the Cincinnati influence. “I remember the first time Pomegranates reached out to our band Enlou when we were in high school. They said, ‘Will you play with us at this venue called The Comet?’ We were like, ‘Oh my gosh, a Cincinnati venue wants to have us!’ It was so awesome. I remember our guitarist got grounded and we couldn’t do the show.”
Fast-forward 20 years and Kiser has been a staple of the scene, playing all over town and collaborating with musicians in the Queen City and beyond.
“The biggest thing about Cincinnati is the relationships,” Kiser says. “I know so many people here, and so many people have been so supportive of my musical journey. I run into people every day. If I’m anywhere in the city, there’s at least one person — if not five — that I know.”
Kiser feeds off his surroundings. He’s lived and worked in some of Cincinnati’s most distinctive neighborhoods: Clifton, Norwood, Over-the-Rhine, Camp Washington and Northside. There’s a Midwestern feel to Carriers’ aesthetic — from Kiser’s no-frills sartorial choices to his earnest lyrics, which can’t help but pull from his own life.
“I’m someone who’s going to give you a genuine, real, heartfelt performance of a song, whether I wrote it last night or whether I wrote it 10 years ago. I’m going to sing it in a very raw and real way. I think that’s part of Cincinnati. Cincinnati is not over-produced. It’s not super-shiny all the time. But there are so many beautiful people here. I love the architecture. Anywhere I go in the city, I can find something that I love looking at.”
Proof of that love can be found in the crafty videos he’s released for the new album, all of which feature footage of people and places that mean something to him — from the Ohio River to the shadow-laden streets of downtown at dusk to a weed-strewn vacant lot in Northside.
“He’s from this area, so he’s immersed in it,” Devendorf says. “It’s the water he’s swam in his whole life. I can’t really speak for him, but I feel like there’s a plainspoken quality and a straightforwardness to what he does, but underneath, there are mysteries. There are deep, unknown things that he is exploring — his own faith, his own personhood. It’s an interesting place to do it. There is no pressure here. It’s not Nashville. It’s not a big city. You can kind of do your own thing.”
All of which brings us to a fateful week in 2022 that would eventually infect what would become Every Time I Feel Afraid. Kiser randomly texted a demo of a song he recorded a few years earlier called “Be the One” to Devendorf, who was on tour with The National in Europe. It’s a sparse tune about Kiser’s relationship with his partner, Kristin, one in which he reveals himself from the get-go: “When I said I wouldn’t write another song/I was lying between my teeth/‘Cause I can’t get over how much/I want to know just what you think of me.”
“The next day Bryan texted back, ‘Dude, this song is so good,’” Kiser says. “And then a few days later, I get a message from him. He’s like, ‘Hey, do you care if I show the band your song today?’ I was like, ‘Oh, shit, anytime!’”
Kiser’s positive mood shifted quickly, the result of events he now finds both sobering and surreal.
“It was a real shit week,” he says, his voice clearly impacted by the memory. “It started with my partner and I getting hit by a drunk driver here in Over-the-Rhine. It was the van I used to tour, and it was also my daily driver. And then we were assaulted by the driver. It was just chaos.”
Kiser was playing the demo of “Be the One,” which ended up being the closing track on Every Time I Feel Afraid, in the vehicle the exact moment the accident occurred. A few days later, he and his Carriers bandmates drove to Chicago in a rental van to play a festival at Navy Pier.
“We went out to dinner the night we got there,” Kiser says. “We ate for an hour and a half and came out and the rental was broken into, and our shit was gone. It was a nightmare.”
A couple of days later, Devendorf, unaware of Kiser’s plight, asked if The National could use “Be the One” as their walk-out music for a show in Paris, France, the use of which would eventually pique Brassland’s interest in Carriers.
“It’s interesting in that so much of this album formed around that weekend in a way,” Kiser says. “The first time I played the song ‘Every Time I Feel Afraid’ live was with the band that next day at the festival in Chicago with borrowed gear. I wrote the song ‘Mixed Emotions’ right when I got back.”
Three years later, things are looking up for Carriers: Noted radio entities like WXPN’s World Café, KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic and KEXP have highlighted songs from Every Time I Feel Afraid. A brief tour has been booked. Other high-profile opportunities are percolating but have not yet become official.
But the most unexpected recent development was an out-of-the-blue email Kiser received last year from someone with the Cincinnati Bengals asking if he was interested in playing at one of the team’s 2024 home games. A lifelong fan — he grew up watching games with his dad — Kiser wasn’t about to pass on the opportunity. Yet, oddly, they wanted him to play some cover songs to fire up the crowd, a sign that his languid Carriers tunes might not be the best option for a raucous Monday Night Football tussle with the Washington Commanders. Naturally, he had to invite his dad to play with him. The duo cranked out rousing versions of Kansas’ “Carry on Wayward Son” and, of course, Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle.”
“That was fucking crazy,” Kiser says, sounding as if he still can’t believe it happened, yet another unexpected turn in his ongoing musical journey. Kiser is looking forward to whatever the next adventure might be, the result of an upbringing that nurtured his creative nature.
“It’s funny, this is only my second album,” he says. “I’ve written hundreds of songs and played probably 100 of them live through the years, and there’s a bunch more no one will probably ever hear. I realize that this is the thing I’m good at. I always knew I had a gift or whatever, and my parents were really supportive of fostering that growing up.”
He’s already planning a recording session for later this year, with the hope that another album will surface by the end of 2026. But his enthusiasm remains tempered by practicality.
“I’m always trying to figure out the next part-time job I’m going to do,” Kiser says. “When I have the tour fully booked for the next record, I’m thinking about whether I can afford a hotel. I’m hoping that no one crashes into my fourth minivan. I’m thinking about who can do this with me? Is everyone OK making $50? There is so much going on at all times because that is the life that I chose by pursuing music. The starving artist thing is still very real 20 years later.”
As ever, for him, it’s about collaborating with like-minded people and creating a lasting community.
“The hardest thing with the music industry is finding people you trust and a team that really believes in what you do,” Kiser says. “Brassland and Alec Bemis believe in me so much. He has written on his own Substack and emails talking about how this is one of the best releases Brassland has ever put out. I just have really incredible support with this record. I’m stoked to see what happens. I’m a little nervous, but then I’m like, ‘I don’t care. I have tons more songs and a bunch more albums to come soon.’”
Devendorf remains a steadfast backer.
“He’s been toiling away in obscurity, and now that he has a little attention, this is a good opportunity for him,” he says. “I hope it works out. But if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. He’s a lifer. He’s going to do this no matter what. He writes songs. He’s so good, and if you’re talented, you’ll always be something if you just show up and do something cool. Somebody is going to hear it. It might not be 8 million streams on the first day, but every little bit counts. I’m happy about anything that happens to him.”
Kiser’s goal going forward is rather simple — to be able to make music and tour without the need to have a so-called “day job.” But he’s also realistic about his place in our chaotic present day.
“I feel weird putting this music out right now with 1) the state of our own country, 2) these natural disasters everywhere and 3) just like the horrific treatment of humanity happening all around the world,” Kiser says. “It’s weird to be like, ‘Hey, everybody, listen to my songs!’ At the same time, a lot of people have already reached out to me and said how much it means to them. I think music can be really healing in general.”
Making music is the only life Kiser knows, and he’s not stopping anytime soon.
“These songs are my hope, my prayers and my seeking clarity in a really confusing, heartbreaking world that also has really beautiful things and beautiful people and beautiful moments and experiences. It’s all part of it.”
You can stream and purchase Carriers’ new album, Every Time I Feel Afraid, on Spotify, Apple Music or wherever you get your music.
Carriers plays an album release show at Woodward Theater on May 24 with Gardener & Dyan. The doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. More info: woodwardtheater.com.
This story is featured in CityBeat’s May 14 print edition.
This article appears in May 14-27, 2025.