London-based eight piece caroline have released the album version of their track ‘Dark blue’, alongside their debut self-titled album – out via Rough Trade Records / Remote Control Records. An earlier version of the song introduced the world to the band when it was released in March 2020, and it was subsequently reworked for the album. ‘Dark blue’ follows earlier singles ‘Good morning (red)’ and ‘IWR’.
With a blend of slow-build guitar music, folk drones and uncompromising climaxes caroline’s unique combination of folk & Midwestern emo has a restrained, but breathtaking, power. ‘Dark blue’ opens the album, and was written the day caroline’s founding members Casper Hughes, Jasper Llewellyn and Mike O’Malley first started playing together in 2017. As the band’s sound kept expanding, so too did their line-up, eventually becoming an eight-piece.
Their debut album caroline was mixed by John ‘Spud’ Murphy (black midi, Lankum). On it, songs can cascade like an avalanche with the full force of so many instruments, squalling and rumbling on the edge of all-out collapse. At other times they slip back into impossibly fragile moments of quiet – a simple bassline or a rattle of snare the only sound amid a dark sea of silence. caroline know exactly the right balance between restraint and release.
Purchase / Download caroline – caroline
