Caroline – ‘Caroline 2’ album review: An impactful declaration of unity
THE SKINNY: There is a moment on Caroline’s simply titled second album, Caroline 2, where the spanning folkish indie band are split up, physically and musically. Made up of a cast of eight musicians, ‘Coldplay Cover’ was recorded with the band separated into two rooms, both teams playing a different song, the mic moving between them. The fact that the song remains so emotionally unified and intact? That’s the sign of greatness.
Speaking of their own album, the band said, “The first record was a compilation, but this one is a declaration.” Jasper Llewellyn, who takes on vocals, cellos, drums and guitar in the band, speaks of this album as a deeply intentional one that is powered by exactly the kind of miraculous unity ‘Coldplay Cover’ captures in a daringly experimental way. While their debut was amazing, it felt like an album made by eight talented musicians. Caroline 2 is a fantastic album made by an eight-piece band.
The difference in those two statements does not mean that any one part of that big lineup has to compromise. Across the album, each player undeniably gets their moment as each track seems to grip you via a different instrument, like the power of the violins on ‘Two Riders Down’, or the crazy guitars and drums on the impactful opener ‘Total Euphoria’ where each instrumental piece of the carnage feels imbued with so much feeling.
It’s the collective nature of that feeling that powers this, though. It is hard to create something cohesive with so much involved, including also bringing in an outsider for the album’s glorious centre piece, which is undeniably the collaboration with Caroline Polachek on ‘Tell Me I Never Knew That’. But the cohesion to be found here is an emotional and atmospheric one. Each track is as cinematic as the last. Each one is undeniably powered by feeling, leading with the sense that all eight players know what they’re trying to capture in each song, all feeling and playing in the same direction, even if they’re playing in different rooms and different songs.
Caroline 2 is exactly what they say it is; a declaration of that unity with ‘Coldplay Cover’ standing as the ultimate example of that fact, proving just how connected this band now are that even a wall couldn’t falter it. And the result is sheer beauty, staggeringly emotional beauty where each song is gloriously cinematic, intoxicatingly unexpected and truly powerful, even in its quietest moments.
For fans of: Movie soundtracks and wishing your life had one.
A concluding comment from the board of cohesion: A Caroline album called Caroline 2 featuring another Caroline? Lovely.
Caroline 2 track by track:
Release date: May 30th | Producer: Jasper Llewellyn, Casper Hughes and Mike O’Malley | Label: Rough Trade
‘Total Euphoria’: Delivers exactly what it promises. Initially tricking you with simple guitars, this track crashes to life with so much going on, but also a staggering amount of emotion behind every piece of the chaotic symphony. [4/5]
‘Song Two’: The composition here, around the one-minute-third mark, may just be the most impactful instrumental moment I’ve heard so far this year. [3.5/5]
‘Tell Me I Never Knew That’: A collaboration of dreams. For fans of Caroline Polachek’s lilting, more folk-ish moments or more pared-back emotional songs, Caroline build her voice a truly stunning nest for exactly that, with the band and her melting into one collective beauty. [4.5/5]
‘When I Get Home’: “When I get home, I might just ask, what you need too.” So simple, but devastatingly simple as the most stripped-back song on the record feels like the most impactful, especially with the thumping heartbeat detail there to catch in the back of your headphones before the song breaks into something different in the second half. [4.5/5]
‘U R UR ONLY ACHING’: With a spanning lineup of eight people, it’s moments like this that the power of that comes front and centre as they create a true wall of sound. But then when it drops off and pulls back, that’s the artistry, and Caroline are a group who know exactly how to give and withhold for impact. [4/5]
‘Coldplay Cover’: A fascinatingly built song with the band split into two rooms, playing two different songs and the microphone moving between them. A strange experiment that only a group as powerful as Caroline could pull off with so much emotion remaining intact. [4.5/5]
‘Two Riders Down’: Every song on this album is pretty long, but not a single one feels it as you get caught up each and every time, riding on the dynamic instrumentals the band builds. Here, it’s the violins that get you. [4/5]
‘Beautiful Ending’: Similar to the opening, this delivers what it promises with a cinematic song that feels like a whole movie rather than a mere soundtrack. [4/5]
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