The Dangling Participles embrace change and find a new direction on “Carousel.”

“Sometimes, when we try to make changes in our lives, we feel stuck, helpless,” said Tamiko May about the Lansing band’s new indie-folk single.

“‘Carousel’ explores this idea of how—consciously or unconsciously—we sometimes find ourselves going ‘round and round’ in circles, in a pattern that doesn’t allow for change.”

Backed by contemplative instrumentation, May sings, “Face the fear of losing out / On some dream that’s preprepared / I’m not used to loose reins / And I’m feeling kind of scared / To leave the organ music and / The brass sleeves behind / As we gallop towards a future / That we ourselves define.”

“I wrote ‘Carousel’ a month after my mom died in 2023,” said May, who also plays ukulele on the song. “I had just joined an online songwriting community and had been given a prompt word, which was supposed to be the focus for writing a new song. However, the ‘Carousel’ song kept nudging me to come back to it, and I wasn’t able to focus on the ‘prompt’ song until ‘Carousel’ was finished.”

While “Carousel” explores the overall concept of change, it also examines the inequities of capitalism and the challenges of investing in the stock markets and financial institutions that support it.

“Most of the time, we don’t even think about what those ‘investments’ really are and how the race to ‘make more money’ results in big corporations exploiting people and the environment,” May said. “If you don’t buy into the current economic system, there aren’t many alternatives—hence feeling stuck.”

May sings, “And the race that we’ve been running / As we gallop at high speed / Can’t be won inside the circle / With the same ones always in the lead / Don’t reach for rings, just ring the bell / It’s time to wake up / It’s time to wake up / It’s time to wake up / All the horses / On the carousel.”

“However, the stock market is structurally inequitable—it benefits those who are already wealthy—and it’s a model of perpetual growth, tied to ever-expanding profits, is extracting resources, and resulting in environmental degradation that is unsustainable,” May said.

“To ‘wake up the horses’ is to wake up to the reality of what a growth-dependent society, that thrives on overconsumption, is doing to us and to the planet. To ‘ring the bell’ is to sound the alarm on this concept of endless expansion, inequality, and ecological harm.”

After writing the song, May brought “Carousel’s” emotive sound to life with Dangling Participles’ bandmates Austin Kaufmann (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar) and Tim Patterson (vocals, piano, bass).

It also features the band’s former drummer, Dan Moreno, on percussion, and May’s daughter, Mori Rothhorn, on violin.

“Mori and I had played ‘Carousel’ together, too, and we had performed just as a duo,” May said. “I really liked what she had heard on her violin and what she had added. It’s pretty subtle, it’s in the second half of the song, but there’s some violin in there.”

The Dangling Participles produced “Carousel” and recorded it with Corey DeRushia, head engineer and owner of Troubadour Recording Studios in Lansing.

“Our bass player, [Tim Patterson], did play some piano on ‘Carousel,’” May said. “We enjoy the fact that in the studio we can do those kinds of things. We can have a bass player who can switch over to the piano and do that kind of stuff, so that was nice.”

Outside of the studio, the band will celebrate the release of “Carousel” and May’s 10-year anniversary with the band on February 6. They’re performing at East Lansing’s Red Cedar Spirits, which served as the original venue for May’s first performance with the band in 2016.

It will also feature former bandmate Larry Zwier on a few songs from the band’s 2016 show setlist.

“We haven’t played there in probably five or six years,” Kaufmann said. “But when I saw that anniversary coming, I thought, ‘I have to call them up.’ I managed to call them at a time when the owner, whom I hadn’t talked to in years, happened to answer the phone. And she said, ‘I remember you. You were one of the first groups we had in here after we opened. Absolutely, you can do that show.’”

With a celebratory show ahead, May is excited to perform with Kaufmann, Patterson, and new drummer Noah Cameron.

“For Austin and me, it’s a nice pairing because we have different skill sets, and we can complement each other in different ways,” May said. “There’s a trust, and I think that’s really important.”

After the show, May and Kaufmann will work on new material with the band.

“We have a huge repertoire, and we have half a dozen songs each that we haven’t had a chance to teach our bassist [and drummer] yet,” Kaufmann said.

The Dangling Participles perform February 6 at Red Cedar Spirits, 2000 Merritt Road, East Lansing, Michigan. The show starts at 7:30 pm and is free.