Copper Changes Color

After the hearth-warm country-folk of 2022’s *Lavender Days*, Caamp sounds like a band reborn on their fifth album, *Copper Changes Color*. From the ragged edges of Taylor Meier’s swaggering vocals on opening track “Millions,” you can hear that this is a looser affair than what you might expect from this Ohio-hailing band—strongly recalling *Youth and Young Manhood*-era Kings of Leon, with less guitar squall and more easygoing jangle. The sonic shift was partially influenced by Meier spending more of his time in NYC’s Lower East Side neighborhood, a locale that bears sonic fruit on songs like the strummy, last-call rocker “Mistakes.” But despite the metropolitan trappings, Caamp is still as reflective and intimate as ever on zoomed-in ballads like “Fairview Feeling,” accompanied by luscious co-production from indie-folk production wizards Beatriz Artola (Fleet Foxes) and Tucker Martine (The Decemberists, My Morning Jacket). Far from completely changing their stripes, Caamp has evolved into a new version of themselves that’s shaggier and more confident, without forgetting what led to their incredible rise in the first place.