caroline
There’s an expansive, uplifting quality to caroline’s 2022 debut, the sense of a large group of people—eight, in this case—together in a room, breathing as one. Cozy as the music can feel, it’s an unusual blend: the woodsy, rustic quality of ’70s British folk, the grandeur of classic Midwestern emo, the abstractions of post-rock and free improvisation. By either grace or design, the closest metaphors are found in nature: a blossoming dawn (“Dark Blue”), crashing waves (the chaotic finale of “Natural death”), ice thawing in sun (“Skydiving onto the library roof”), and wind rippling through grass (“zilch”). Together, they ebb, flow, fray, and coalesce—emphasis on *together*.
Five years in the making, the UK band’s debut accomplishes something nearly impossible for a largely instrumental post-rock album: to project urgency and timelessness simultaneously.
caroline's gorgeous, challenging debut incorporates midwest emo, Appalachian folk and more into a thing of unique beauty.
Sparse, shapeshifting and communal, this post-rock-meets-ambient-folk album from caroline is really striking
'Caroline' by Caroline album review by Greg Walker. The UK bands self-titled release is now available via Rough Trade Records and DSPs