Review | caroline – caroline 2

Label: Rough Trade Records

By George Ward

‘caroline 2,’ the new album from London 8-piece caroline, is a beautiful step up from their debut, taking everything that makes the band so special and refining it into the most emotional album of the year so far.

caroline made their mark with their debut album in 2022, emerging from London’s smoggy experimental scene with a gentle, meandering project, and one that has stuck with me far longer than many of the more guitar-centric albums from similar scenes.

The debut album was experimental yes, but not flashy, instead trusting its listeners to be patient as the band explored, improvising over simple repeated ideas. Thankfully, ‘caroline 2’ loses none of this character, instead refining the band’s sound, with tighter structures and far more complete songs.

‘Total Euphoria‘ opens the album with guitar strums, at first random, then rhythmic, revving the song into gear before the engine finally starts.

On first listen, it can be quite disorientating, as caroline rarely stick to a set tempo, instead dragging at points, before rushing into the next section. When it does click though, it is incredibly satisfying, and you find yourself being led by the band, as their instruments breathe in and out naturally, like a huge, gentle beast.

On the first of many unexpected moments, the violins begin to swell, preparing us for an inevitable post-rock explosion of sound. But, instead of this, the instrumental is cut out entirely by a massive electronic buzz, more of an implosion than an explosion. Try as I may, I just can’t quite put into words how this feels like to listen to – you’ll have to try it yourself with a good pair of headphones.

The vocals throughout ‘caroline 2’ are fascinating, with simple lines repeated again and again, embedding themselves deep in your mind. When the heavily autotuned vocals on ‘U R UR ONLY ACHING’ kick in, it’s unexpected but not at all out of place, with a seriously emotional human performance under the layers of effects. On ‘Song 2,’ the pleading of “Please, please make up your mind” is devastating, while on ‘Tell me I never knew that,’ the round of “I don’t even know if I’m alive / But I don’t wanna be somebody else” is repeated countless times, each with different inflections and meanings.

On this track, caroline are joined by Caroline Polachek, whose vocal harmonies add to the huge number of instruments on play throughout the album. Repeated vocal lines overlap and weave in and out of each other over a simple plucked acoustic guitar. Vocal notes ring like bells in beautiful harmonies, before we’re treated to a proper chorus – a satisfying and unexpected release.

‘When I get home’ is an extremely special track and the perfect example of how effectively caroline are experimenting with space on the album. Underlying the track is a muffled techno beat, as if from a party just next door. It gives the effect that you’re sitting alone, hiding from the chaos, left only with your thoughts. The build up is painfully slow, with each instrument laying itself down on you with such weight, like heavy blankets being stacked on top of you, one after the other.

When this heaviness cuts out, you’re left with only plucked strings and casually hummed melodies; it feels so wonderfully fresh and breezy, like stumbling across someone having a picnic by themselves in the middle of nowhere. No other band is experimenting with mixing in such an emotionally effective way as caroline.

On ‘Coldplay Cover,’ caroline play around with this idea of space in another fascinating way. The track was recorded in a South East London house, with part of the band in the kitchen and the other part in the living room. However, each room is playing a different song. The microphone then moves between rooms, forcing you to pay attention to each song individually, while you can still hear the other one bleeding through the walls. The songs themselves are beautifully simple, but it is the way they are separated and brought together which is so interesting.

The highlight of the album is ‘Two riders down’. Instrumentally, the track consists of the band playing very loosely, clattering together into huge swells and releases. There will be moments of chaos, then complete harmony, then jumbled chaos once again.

On top of this gorgeous mess is a hugely emotional vocal performance. Every poetic lyric is said with such honest weight behind it and when the track reaches its climax, the lines are yelled, as if from the next door room, desperate to be heard above the instruments, now a complete wall of noise: “THEY SET ME ON FIRE. TWO RIDERS, TWO RIDERS DOWN.” Exploring loss, connection and understanding, the track will be hard to beat this year.

Closing things up is the aptly named ‘Beautiful ending,’ which gently lulls us after the emotional crash we’ve just experienced. The track is so soothing, with brass and strings played so warmly and softly, while autotuned vocals tell us “Picture a beautiful ending. Not everything needs to even out.” Moments of noise appear, but wash over us like a wave, rather than a jolting shot to the head.

On ‘caroline 2,’ caroline make one of the most emotional and technically impressive albums I’ve heard in a long time. While the album is experimental, it is never inaccessible, with something new to grab onto with each listen and much more confident and defined song structures than their debut.

The album is most rewarding when you trust the band, following their inhales and exhales. caroline are unbelievably tight together, but play with an unbelievable looseness; just as you find yourself getting lost with a musical idea, they pull you in again, wrapping you up in their strange but comforting warmth.