Musician Father Accused of Auditory Abuse In the top left corner of the mainland United States, discord is busy brewing. Surrounded by wet weather, one family in particular is battening down hatches. The two-year-old daughter of the house (constructing increasingly full sentences) is starting to share quite a long and disturbing tale about repetitively forced exposure to her father’s unusual musical processes, which she terms “programmatic and never-ending in nature,” claiming to now have developed “auditory canals that have been pushed past proper limits for my age.” Back home, her father (Matt Carlton, the fringe-musician) states that he and his daughter originally set out to put together a minor album (ultimately, the recently released Garlic) spaced amongst a smattering of keys, acoustic, and vocals. He insists that her shocking claims against him are nothing more than “a typically desperate cry out for attention” as well as “an immature releasing of frustrations based on justly administered consequences.” He explains further, “She wanted to record with me a few songs, so I said ‘fine’ because it really did sound like fun. I took the time to set everything up, all of the equipment. I thought that it would be neat to track her vocals first, since the whole project was her idea anyway. When we started to roll, I noticed that I needed to lower the microphone a little bit more towards her mouth, so I began the quick and easy adjustment. Her direct and immediate response became the opening seconds of the album, as it was all the tape she ended up contributing. Nothing after that developed as expected for either of us, I’m sure.” Later, he adds, “I figured that if she was going to act out like that, trying to control the whole project, well, ‘No, no,’ I said to her, ‘you can’t even reach the knobs to adjust the levels.’ So, I decided not to let her record anymore, told her that was my decision, and also let her know that she was going to have to still hang out with me while I worked on stuff, I wasn’t going to just junk all of our plans and give in to her volatile moods.” According to the very young girl, production of Garlic became “infinitely painful to swallow.” In striking contrast, the child’s mother claims to have only listened to one of the songs, never being allowed otherwise until only days before her daughter’s graphic public statement. “I put it in the car stereo for the first time while she was riding in the back, then I heard her voice at the beginning, and right after that she was crying out, ‘No, I don’t like this one. Mom, I DON’T LIKE THIS ONE!!!’ Tears were running down her face. I had no idea he was making her listen to that much of his music all of the time. She seemed sickened by the thought of the sound of it. He said he always distracted her from the bad words and innuendo, but I don’t know. He told me that she liked most of the songs, and I try to believe that… but how long could she possibly take it? There are only seven songs, you know. I feel so badly that this has happened to her, I have yet to forgive myself for allowing it to happen inside of our home… I never thought he would ever do anything like that to her. It must be horrible to continually have the same songs forced upon you. She’s our little girl. I can’t even think about it, it keeps me up at night. I am so very sorry.” For the time being, Carlton has agreed to not play any of the Garlic recordings while his daughter is within listening range, though he adamantly denies any wrongdoing. “Anybody can hear the scope of ego we are dealing with here, just listen to the first three seconds of the album. Then tell me what should have been done. You tell me, what should have been done?”