caroline On New Album, Caroline Polachek, And The Importance Of Space

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With their second album ‘caroline 2’ on the horizon, we chatted with London 8-piece caroline on their completely unique sound and process

With their debut self-titled album, London’s caroline gave us one of the most special debut albums in recent memory. With loose, long structures and patient, drawn out experimentations on simple ideas, caroline immediately set themselves apart from the bustling London scene.

Now, with the helpfully titled ‘caroline 2,’ the band return for the sophomore album. Out on 30th May via Rough Trade Records, the album is a complete delight to listen to. With more structured songs, more satisfying climaxes and the band’s signature experimentations with mixing and space, the album is both a completely natural progression from their debut and an extremely refreshing, beautiful step up.

We know it’s very confusing – the band is called caroline – but this is no solo project. In fact, the band is made up of 8 musicians and not one of them is even called ‘Caroline’. However, to confuse things further, when I spoke with Casper (electric guitar/vocals) and Oliver (violin), they had just released their new single ‘Tell me I never knew that,’ a surprise collaboration with the legendary Caroline Polachek.

Landing such a huge feature is a feat in itself but, from the sounds of it, the experience was incredible, with Polachek fully committing to the collaboration, by no means phoning in her parts.

Casper shares: “It was really amazing to make music with someone who is obviously as skilled as she is, she’s an incredible singer. I think you can tell just from the few interactions I’ve had with her, just how completely dedicated she is to her kind of artistry, her life as a musician and as a pop artist.

“When she was recording takes, her vocal range was incredible and her ability to kind of constantly generate new ideas, new little harmonies, new vocal trills was very impressive.”

The band were struck by Polachek’s boldness; her lack of fear towards failure and her ‘willingness to always try something and always be present’ inspired caroline hugely. “I think that just shows a real supreme confidence.”

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With 8 members, a band’s sound could feel overcrowded or muddled, but this isn’t the case with caroline. Their sound undoubtedly uses the same instruments of more straightforward guitar music, which the band love, but the instruments’ roles are different; violins, for example, are a leading force, not a background addition. I ask if they have to approach their instruments differently in caroline as opposed to other bands.

“I’m so used to it now, it’s hard to analyse how I would approach it differently. There’s maybe more of a democratising of different instruments,” Oliver tells me. ” If you had your classic guitar band set up, and I love this kind of music… those core instruments would definitely be higher in the mix playing more of the bigger lines, and (violins) feel more like a supporting thing.”

Casper adds: “It would be weird to include an instrument that you have a lot quieter than everything else in a way. It’s like, why bother? I think for us, if you’re going to include something you should be able to actually hear the timbre of it. It’s not just a melody you can just about make out, you should feel its presence.”

Oliver puts it perfectly: “No instrument should feel like a sprinkle, like an additional bit of seasoning; it should all be in the base sauce, you know.”

A large part of these instruments’ character comes through the recording and mixing, something which is of huge importance to caroline. On ‘When I get home,’ we hear a muffled techno beat under the track, as if hearing a party from the next door flat; on ‘Two riders down,’ the vocals sound like they are being screamed from another room. I asked the band how important this concept of space was to them.

“It’s vital. It’s a really, really vital underpinning of our musical philosophy. We like to view the recording environment as just as important as the notes being played. Playing guitar in a dead studio and playing guitar in a reverberant, lively room, they’re just so different. Even if you play your instrument, just to yourself in different settings, the feeling that you get, the sound that is created, just could just be so wildly different,” Casper tells me.

“I think that is something that a lot of recorded music doesn’t make the most of… and the distance away from the microphone as well, that really nice tactile closeness, juxtaposed with that really nice reverberant, clangy roominess.”

And it’s not just in the studio where this concept of space is at the forefront of their mind. On previous tours, caroline have been known to experiment radically with their performance spaces, ignoring the stage of a venue to stand in the crowd, all members facing one another in a circle, making for an incredibly intimate gig to experience. You can read our experience of this at Bristol’s Strange Brew here.

This, of course, came with its challenges. “A lot of venues are really good at accommodating that. But you might be on  tour going to a smaller venue in Europe or it’s a smaller DIY venue. And maybe the sound person is a little bit like, “what, I have to bring all the monitors off the stage onto the floor, and it’s going to be feedbacking in front of the PA?” Oliver shares, before hurriedly clarifying “I completely understand why a sound person might be like that! They probably only get paid from five o’clock onwards and they’ve got a lot of work to do before doors.”

Now, more recognition has led to larger venues, making these layouts more tricky. caroline often go for a ‘semi-circle-situation’ now, all members still able to see each other, but maybe less of a pain for the hard-working sound crew. But, with the right venue, like Le Poisson Rouge in New York, the band seemed very keen to try these experimental layouts again. “It’s just a part of us now, it feels obvious that we’d be in a circle because I’ve got to see that person or that person in order to find cues.”

When I ask about certain fascinating creative decisions, the answer usually can be summarised with the above: “it’s just a part of us now”. The band’s sound is seemingly so unique because they have found this style of music to fit with their skills, chemistry and personality as a band, not for any lofty intellectual reason.

“I don’t think it’s an attempt to be tricky,  necessarily,” Casper says. “Just from how I write riffs or how any of us write songs, they don’t tend to be verse/chorus, so it’s never stuck to that formula. So I think that’s always given us space to think about how else we’re going to move from section to section. It’s quite freeing in that way.“

Again, it seems to come down to space: “We like the idea of those changes in the song being quite pronounced and they’re moving to an entirely different scenario, like a different room, a different place.”

“I think it’s more just being excited by what that change can provide rather than trying to be like: “Oh, they’re gonna expect this. We’re gonna do this instead. I’m gonna fuck with them” type thing.” Casper reassures me.

On 30th May, the album will be put out into the world, for you to listen to it however you feel like. Out of interest, I ask Casper and Oliver how they would want to listen to ‘caroline 2’ for the first time, if they’d never heard it before.

Casper has had some of his best listening experiences just walking around with his headphones on: “Smoke a joint, put it on your headphones, walk to the park, have a little walk around. Be a little bit too high, but it’s kind of also blowing your mind. You don’t have to listen to it high, it should also blow your mind sober. It will just be extra mind blowing.“

Oliver takes a different approach, instead pointing out the crisper production: “If you want to appreciate how this album is different from the last, I might say the opposite to Casper. Get a nice pair of speakers, take a seat, set them up. Listen to all those subtleties!” he says with a voice and a smile, aware of not wanting to sound too pretentious.

New album ‘caroline 2’ is out on 30th May via Rough Trade Records.

Listen to ‘Tell me I never knew that (feat. Caroline Polachek)‘ here:

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Catch caroline at the following:

Sat, 31^st May– Bristol, Trinity

Sun, 1^st June – Falmouth, KCM Church

Tue, 3^rd June – London, Islington Assembly Hall

Wed, 4^th June – Cardiff, The Gate

Fri, 6^th June – Manchester, Band On The Wall

Sat, 7^th June – Glasgow, St Lukes

Sun, 8^th June – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club

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