Ooooh, that sweet caroline x Caroline connection. UK Band To Watch alumni caroline, experts in the art of gorgeous, abstract experimental rock, returned last month with their first new song in three years. It was called "Total Euphoria," and it lived up to its title. Today they're announcing sophomore album caroline 2, and they're doing so in satisfying fashion: by collaborating with Caroline Polachek.
"Tell Me I Never Knew That," the new single out today accompanying the album announcement, presents the intuitive yet unexpected pairing of caroline with Polachek, the alt-pop icon (feels fair to call her that now, right?) and former Chairlift singer. Polachek's voice fits right into caroline's deconstructed, otherworldly indie-pop environment, perhaps in part because she's singing a melody that the band recognized as a perfect fit for her. They elaborate in a statement:
We used to call this one ‘Backstreet boys’ because the opening top line felt like a Backstreet Boys song. The main riff was written by Casper on acoustic guitar and stuck out as a really catchy, bouncy, hypnotic thing. We wrote the opening top line together and straight away we thought "This sounds like a melody that Caroline Polachek might sing" in its hooky-ness. We sort of joked that we'd ask her to sing it but didn't think it'd actually be on the cards, until about a year later when we sent her the half-finished song and she was up for it!
Caroline was amazing. She wrote a load of extra parts that gave the whole thing such a lift, and then spent a few hours tracking a load of more improvised parts. We were still recording at about 1:30 a.m. when we decided to call it, but there was no indication that Caroline was the slightest bit tired or that she had lost any momentum in her ability to sing, even though she’d been singing for about 6 hours. It was an inspiring thing to witness! We did a little bit more re-ordering together with Caroline a few weeks after the session and then the song was finally there.
Polachek adds:
caroline is a band from London that I love. when they invited me to the studio I almost forgot about how hilarious it is that we have the same name; I was mostly excited to get to see how they write their intricate and unpredictable music, which is a total mystery to me. But they came with this beautiful song already written (in 9/4, for the heads) which I stacked up with harmonies and warbles and spoken words and love so much- so I still have no idea how they do it. Some mysteries are meant to be. But spoiler alert : their next album is a masterpiece and this song is just one piece of a bewilderingly beautiful puzzle.
Eventually, a refrain of "It always has been, it always will be" morphs into "This always happens, this always happens, this always happens." But collaborations don't always work out this well. Listen below.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Total Euphoria"
02 "Song Two"
03 "Tell Me I Never Knew That"
04 "When I Get Home"
05 "U R UR ONLY ACHING"
06 "Coldplay Cover"
07 "Two Riders Down"
08 "Beautiful Ending"
caroline 2 is out 5/30 on Rough Trade. Pre-order it here.
