caroline defie easy categorisation, they follow up their well-regarded self-titled 2022 debut with new album caroline 2. Out on the 30th May.

caroline was initially formed by three of the eight current members at Manchester University all the way back in 2016. The debut album appeared six years later in 2022 on Rough Trade Records. They were not exactly prolific in those in between years with just a handful of live performances here and there and Rough Trade signed them on the strength of just one single. caroline called their first album caroline and it was very well recieved. It didn’t fit into any simple boxes with what could only be described as professional unprofessionality. There were no straightforward melodies, no easy hooks and time signatures shift frequently. What seemed chaotic though had a lot of thought behind it. Now, along with Black Country, New Road they seem to have spearheaded a whole new indie movement. English Teacher, Honeyglaze and Man/Woman/Chainsaw all owe something to their playful experimentation, with plenty of other bands nodding in their direction as well.

Onto new album caroline 2, opening with a track called ‘Total Euphoria,’ it seems designed to double down on what has come before. There are 8 or more instruments played here, yet each one seems to have come in from a different song. On a first listen it is a little bit jarring, yet with each subsequent listen it starts making more sense. There are some gorgeous vocal melodies here. I am not sure I would go as far as describing the outcome as total euphoria, but it is a very stirring track. It also sets out the album’s stall well. If you don’t get on with this, you won’t be sticking around for the rest. If you find it enjoyable then you will find the rest of the album equally pleasant. If you hadn’t already guessed caroline have a somewhat ironic approach to naming things. Song 2 on the album is called ‘Song two,’ no it is not a Blur cover version.

It is the third track that drew us here as a must review, the utterly stunning collaboration and single with Caroline Polachek, ‘Tell me I never knew that.’ On this track the pieces that are normally falling apart hold together. It is the closest they have ever got to a straightforward song, though there is still room for bursts of a discordant brass section. Polachek’s influence on the song is pronounced. “She was a force to be reckoned with,” says founding member Mike O’Malley. “She was singing for five or six hours, writing new harmonies. We called it at about half one in the morning, but she could’ve kept going.” The vocals and harmonies from both Carolines make this a staggeringly beautiful and complex track. It is one of my favourite singles released this year.

‘When I get home’ is the most deceptively simple track on the album. For three minutes “When I get home, when I get home, I might just ask what you need too, what you need too,” loops round and round. Then it changes to a string instrument being plucked repeatedly while a female vocal comes in as an additional instrument, a note repeated many times. As the initial refrain comes back in it creates a kind of crescendo with more of those off-kilter dissonant notes thrown in. ‘U R UR ONLY ACHING’ starts off with the kind of beautiful simplicity that drew me into jasmine.4.t.’s glorious debut album earlier in the year before exploding into a brief burst of focused guitar energy. As with their debut there are hints of folk, hints of post-rock, hints of Pavement-esque lo-fi.

The playful/lazy/ironic (delete as appropriate) song titles continue with ‘Coldplay cover,’ as it is nothing of the sort. It is almost two separate songs spliced together, the band divided into two little sub-units. It might be the best track on the album, there is something wistfully beautiful and melancholic about the back and forwards of it. It poses a question though. How good are they because of the constantly playful jarring dissonances they employ, or how much better might they be if they dialled back those elements and played more into the masterful melodies and harmonies they can produce? Have they crafted a distinct identity, or have they shot themselves in the foot, limiting the grand total of what they are capable of?

This is going to be an absolute marmite album. Some are going to hail it as borderline genius, others are going to hate everything about it. Overall, it doesn’t quite hit the heights I had hoped for. There are wonderful, wonderful moments here and at least two truly stunning tracks. There are also forced edges though, difficulty for difficulties sake. It will push away more than it attracts. As I always say though, I would much rather listen to people trying to capture something new and ambitious than churn out an identical copy of something deemed the successful way of the moment. It is worth listening to and seeing what you will take away from it, the reaction will likely be a strong one – in one direction or another.