Caroline 2 by Caroline

The most emotional moments in our lives often produce inexplicable behavior, our words and actions outrunning our self-understanding to form improvised, confused displays of sincerity. British post rockers Caroline reenact these outbursts with Caroline 2, an album which finds voice for its wild emotional swells through an unlikely variety of sounds, styles, and aesthetics. Compositionally, Caroline 2 closely resembles the work of high-minded academia, mirroring the intuitive, sparse, droning progressions of minimalism and other forms of contemporary classical music. However, Caroline pushes past the confines of this largely sanitized, unapproachable realm with their stunningly relatable, aesthetically humble, charmingly maximalist performances, encouraging these massive, messy collaborations that turn their ensemble into an ascending cult. Gradually through the transient presences of brass, strings, synths, vocals, keys, and many, many more untraceable collaborators, we sculpt our mental landscape to turn upward into harrowing heights. We watch in awe as a conscious not unlike ours buckles under the weight of its feelings, quaking and screaming, bursting forth from every outlet with pure, unprocessed experience.