Album Review: caroline 2 by caroline

At one point this could've been a glorious meringue that would let loose a swirl of violins and twinkling guitars at the slightest crack. Instead, the pieces are fractured across the plate, the band's core ingredients smothered in a wash of new sounds, clashing drums, bursting brass and manipulated vocals. The result is an album far messier than their meticulously melancholic debut, and more beautiful for it.

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The first single from the album, "Total euphoria," resembles a slightly deconstructed Broken Social Scene, with twin guitars chugging out repetitive and asynchronous downstrokes and a drum thump that trips into and out of the fray. Euphoria is achieved with a kind of drunken side-step that welcomes in the strings and trumpet with a smile. Humour plays a role here, with the second song titled "Song two" (which isn't a Blur cover) followed by "Coldplay cover" (which isn't a Coldplay cover).

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There's a jarring, mind-bending moment halfway through Caroline's second studio album where the boundaries of what a song is and what it's supposed to do start to dissolve. The misleadingly titled "Coldplay Cover" begins with half of the London eight-piece group playing in a living room and then, midway through, the engineer picks up the mic and walks into the kitchen, where the other half begins to play. Footsteps creak, distant voices blur, and what began as one song fractures into two happening at once, bleeding into one another.

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In recent weeks I've been obsessed with r/visiblemending, a joyously strange corner of the internet. Users of this subreddit don't simply mend their own clothes, already a revolutionary act in the age of fast fashion, but do so in ways that make their garments look as though they have been amateurishly hand-fixed. Cross stitches in brightly coloured thread, patches of wholly different material, and a bit of ornamental sashiko for good measure, the visible menders transform their wearisome clothes into wearable artworks, beloved celebrations of the crafting process.

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caroline's all-embracing post-rock and folk sensibilities on 'caroline 2' make for a grand experience from the off. Opener 'Total euphoria' lives up to its name, an off-kilter post-rock track with Sigur Rós-style flourishes; 'Song two' continues the spiritual exorcism with a stunning string squall; 'When I get home' beguiles over its six-plus minute runtime through an almost meditative approach; and standout 'Two riders down', meanwhile, sits alongside Brighton newcomers The New Eves and the Broadside Hacks collective with its ever-intensifying avant garde take on folk. Namesake and pop icon Caroline Polachek is recruited for 'Tell me I never knew that’, a collaboration that results in saccharine sweet folk-pop laced in honeyed harmonies.

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The first time I heard caroline I paid attention. The music was glorious and featured a soaring melody, intricate guitars and killer harmonies, but what really pulled me in was the sheer number of members. Their 2020 self-titled project consisted of some songs that felt more like a compilation than a debut album. In truth it was.

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