On caroline's self-titled 2022 debut, the eight-piece UK collective unveiled material that flirted with deliberateness and silences, crafting quietly intricate post-folk puzzles, full of strings and breath, to tantalize the patient listener. The follow-up, aptly titled caroline 2, sees the group occasionally accelerate to gear-grinding velocity, though the path to their destination is still not always a straight line.
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). Instead, it's a languid emo come-on with a fun fake fade-out in the middle.
Caroline Polachek is on hand to crystallize things with "Tell me I never knew that," which is a low-key panic attack dressed up like a pop song. It's the kind of nervy second single that ties the album's stray parts nicely together. Those parts include slight nods to fellow chamber experimentalists like Black Country, New Road, as well as some Auto-Tune romance reminiscent of occasional tour friend claire rousay.
The album feels like the kind of organic growth that comes when a group is comfortable with improvisation and pushing boundaries, but with an acute understanding of all of their moving parts. The result is a sound that is assured and ebullient, lively as a coiled spring releasing its kinetic energy until it's exhausted.