Album Review: caroline by Caroline

Intriguing, genre-spanning debut from London chamber ensemble showcases seamlessly blended opposing sounds and balances beauty with tension The debut album by London eight-piece caroline has been a long time in the making. The ensemble first started to play together in early 2017 then slowly began to expand in terms of personnel and instrumentation before reaching their current incarnation. The first music to appear from these sessions arrived in 2020 with the release of the single Dark Blue and 2021 brought two more tracks, Skydiving Onto The Library Roof and IWR, both of which also appear on their eponymous debut album.

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On 'Dark Blue', the opening track from caroline's self-titled debut, cellist/vocalist Jasper Llewelyn chants a simple refrain: 'I want it all'. It's a missive that could be mistaken for arrogant, but instead comes off as cautiously optimistic, as he and his seven bandmates build a richly textured soundscape that evokes more than lyrics alone ever could. Taking inspiration from avant garde classical music as well as Appalachian folk and post-rock, to name a few, the group--comprising Mike O'Malley (guitar, vocals), Casper Hughes (guitar, vocals), Freddy Wordsworth (trumpet, bass), Oliver Hamilton (violin), Magdalena McLean (violin), Alex Mckenzie (clarinet/flute) and Hugh Aynsley (percussion)--have developed a sound all their own, as beautiful as it is unsettling.

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