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CRITIC REVIEWS
100
The beauty in caroline’s music lies in how they balance their influences.
5mo
90
Imagine the energy of early (i.e. British) Sea Power, but contained and exercised with spiritual precision.
88
It is an unorthodox album but one that is quintessentially moving, with its authenticity and honesty.
81
This band are making aural marvels that are sporadic, reactive, and organic — disguised inexactness that will have listeners frozen in an undeveloped state, merely connecting on an emotional level that can hardly be rationalized.
80
Caroline's debut represents a reinvention that's as stylishly coherent as it is surprising.
80
caroline’s music is as comforting as it is unsettling.
80
caroline’s masterpiece might be yet to come, but this formative debut album opens up a world of possibilities.
80
It’s this ability to seamlessly blend opposing sounds and balance beauty with tension that makes for such an intriguing album, and very much confirms the old adage that good things are worth waiting for.
80
Five years in the making, the UK band’s debut accomplishes something nearly impossible for a largely instrumental post-rock album: to project urgency and timelessness simultaneously.
70
It encourages stillness and contemplation, rewarding deep listening with rhythmic undercurrents that lure you into a meditative state.
60
Though the percussive, struck guitar strings interlude Zilch is perhaps an inquiry too far, caroline’s flare for conjuring the liminal space between sleep and wakefulness frequently enchants.
60
Space and stealth are keynotes for this London-based eight-piece, who bring to mind a reflective twist on the experimental avenues explored by Black Midi or Black Country, New Road.
60
With a wide range of instruments including trumpet, flute, clarinet, saxophone and cello, and a fondness for choral arrangements and Appalachian folk, the sheer scope of it all can feel a little overwhelming.
50
In their effort to defy categorization by creating sonic pastiches from fragments of widely varying genres, along with their aversion to capitalization, they too often stray from creating compelling processed sound portraits such as “Dark blue” and instead end up with bristly and frazzled sketches, rendering the album as an auditory adventure will neither wow the listener nor will it disappoint.
Caroline's first album is a breath of pure oxygen, approaching a music as instinctive as refined. With this performance, the London band asserts their promise and catches the light for a potential golden future.
Caroline is like a good gastronomic feast accompanied by a glass of wine, when the pleasure increases ten-fold on your taste buds and happiness invades your body. You let yourself be transported without restraint, light as a feather, no longer trying to know where you are lost. ... read more
If you’re someone who likes to fuck around with effects or is into noisy, experimental folk and ambient dirges, you’ll probably get a lot out of this project. Now I dabble in those things, so I can definitely see the appeal of caroline’s eponymous debut, but I don’t know if I’m crazy about the group’s sound myself. I find it much more fascinating—like something to study or ponder—than I find it entertaining. That’s not to say this ... read more
I liked the initial sound of this album, but I felt that the more this album went on, the more I felt bored from this album. There are moments of amazing production and ideas on this album that I really do love, but at the same time, some… not so good ideas are on this album as well. Most specifically, those interludes that are on every other track are really not great. They stick out like a sore thumb, and they just halt the flow of this album that I feel would be there without them. ... read more
It's messy and jumbled in instrumentation but calming and smooth nonetheless, it's a real interesting blend and ofc gotta have that BCNR comparison. I thoroughly enjoyed this and look forward in following where the band heads in future.
3 Favs: Dark blue, Skydiving onto the library roof, Natural death
Dark blue – 8.7
Good morning (red) – 8
desperately – 7
IWR – 7.5
messen #7 – 7
Engine (eavesdropping) – 7.7
hurtle – 6.7
Skydiving onto the library roof – 7.8
zilch – 7.3
Natural death – 8.3
|
likes: 9/10
overall final score: 76.00
favs: Dark blue • Natural death • Good morning (red)
least fav: messen #7
worst: ✘
skip: hurtle
🚨 27 → 76 🚨
months ago i listened to this album cause i find it interest, so, i ... read more
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Track List
| 1 | Dark Blue 6:36 | 86 |
| 2 | Good morning (red) 5:47 | 83 |
| 3 | desperately 1:13 | 73 |
| 4 | IWR 6:29 | 81 |
| 5 | messen #7 1:39 | 71 |
| 6 | Engine (eavesdropping) 5:41 | 75 |
| 7 | hurtle 0:50 | 69 |
| 8 | Skydiving onto the library roof 7:41 | 79 |
| 9 | zilch 2:08 | 65 |
| 10 | Natural death 8:40 | 81 |
Total Length: 46 minutes
Year End Lists
| #3 | / | The Quietus |
| #5 | / | Loud and Quiet |
| #20 | / | DIY |
| #23 | / | Piccadilly Records |
| #42 | / | NPR Music |
| #43 | / | NME |
| #69 | / | Les Inrocks |
| / | The Vinyl Factory |
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11mo
don't care about the amount of instrumental "interludes" this album has. minions.
1y
2022 bright green field. Both post rock/post punk albums that are going to be a little overlooked in favour of their admittedly superior contemporaries.
Added on: November 9, 2021