Couldn’t find a thread for these guys, and especially with the release of the new album feel it’s well and truly deserved.
I can’t think of a band that’s impacted me more in the last 5 years or so. Originally heard about them on here, in I think a festival thread? (thank you to whichever kind soul posted their swimming pool performance of ‘Dark Blue’!) and have been hooked ever since. To my mind, there’s no other group who are so intrinsically linked to ‘space’ in their music; the way they play with sound, how it changes between different environments and creates these little accidental moments of magic that exist in some weird liminal/transient space that you’re lucky enough to grasp for a second before slipping away.
Goes without saying that the new album is a banger. Standouts after a few listens are probably “When I get home” and “Coldplay cover”, but honestly the whole album is so good I find it really hard to pick. Does feel like they’re reaching another (well deserved) level of popularity now too, especially with the Caroline Polachek collab bringing in a bunch of new fans (I was at the 3am tail end of a houseparty recently when unexpectedly my partner’s pal—who’s a big Polachek fan—put on “Tell me I never knew that” to a room full of comedowny people who all got very emotional, which was great and sweet). Anyway I’m definitely rambling by now, but interested to see if others share my slight obsession!
So good last night. Hooked since hearing Good Morning (Red) for the first time at 3am in January 2022, holding my son who’d been born only a few days before. Really looking forward to properly sitting down with the record, sounded incredible live yesterday.
Fantastic at rough trade.
I was a little worried about the running late business and had flashbacks of the never ending sound check at End of the Road. They seemed to play for longer than other instores I’ve see at rt. didn’t stay for the signing because I was busting for a leak.
Hmmm. All I need is for HAAi and Jockstrap to release really good albums this year and I can populate my 2025 top 5 with the same 5 artists I did in 2022. Glad to see I put Caroline at No. 2 in 2022 (still doesn’t nudge Momma’s debut, though artistically it clearly kicks it out of the park).
Yeah I’m kinda struggling too. The one with Caroline Polachek is nice, but they mostly make me want to listen to Pretend, who could do that amorphous stuff and still bring it in to something cohesive again.
Very little doesn’t make me want to listen to Pretend. Most of the time when I’m listening to any music I actively have to stop myself remembering that I’d be having a better time listening to Pretend.
I think there must be a certain amount of buy-in as a listener to appreciate these guys? I don’t find their sound very accessible…although that isn’t by any means a problem in itself, plenty of good music takes time to reveal itself. But I don’t find myself interested enough in their “sound” or concept to persevere, however I’ve only tried caroline 2 once. Don’t want to be too snippy in a band-specific thread as I realise it’s something I’m missing, not the other way round.
Love caroline. Saw them play Margate Caves just after their first album came out and it was absolutely magical. They did an amazing job with the sound as well. I had a quick chat with them afterwards and said to them how good the sound was considering the space and they were really chuffed. They said they had put a lot of work into it that afternoon setting up trying to make it as good as they could and they weren’t sure how it would go once they had an audience in there too.
I think out of the two I prefer the first album at the moment, but that may be just that I am that more familiar with it, and it is perhaps slightly less difficult on the ear. Both brilliant pieces of work, though, and I am so pleased they exist and do what they do.
