Lars Gotrich | May 3, 2023
London's caroline typically performs in a circle, a visual metaphor attuned to the connections made as members face each other. But in its Tiny Desk performance, the group adjusted its stage plot slightly for a new setting, still singing together of yearning, of fatigue, of kinship. Gusts of post-rock, emo, folk and minimalism sweep around the octet's sound, but the musical mish-mash isn't quite the point — caroline stresses a communal spirit, witnessed here in a beautiful set.

Over three songs performed from caroline's self-titled debut — one of NPR Music's 50 best albums of 2022 — strings skitter and swoon, guitars stutter and drum sticks roll atop the Tiny Desk itself. In sprawling arrangements and frenzied improvisations, this is impatient music that awaits patient ears. There's power and vulnerability in choral singing, where different kinds of voices aid and uplift the moment for something better. That's especially the case on "Dark blue," with a mournful-yet-triumphant chord progression you could sit inside forever, as the music shifts and shuffles over a bustling drone and the band offers a deceptively simple carpe diem: "I want it all."

SET LIST
"Good morning (red)"
"Dark blue"
"Skydiving onto the library roof"

MUSICIANS
Jasper Llewellyn: acoustic guitar, cello, drums, vocals
Mike O'Malley: electric guitar, vocals
Casper Hughes: electric guitar, vocals
Oliver Hamilton: violin
Magdalena McLean: violin, vocals
Freddy Wordsworth: trumpet, bass
Alex McKenzie: clarinet, flute, saxophone
Hugh Aynsley: drums, percussion

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bob Boilen
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Sofia Seidel, Alanté Serene, Catie Dull
Audio Assistant: Hannah Gluvna
Tiny Desk Team: Suraya Mohamed, Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Marissa Lorusso, Hazel Cills, Ashley Pointer, Pilar Galván, Jill Britton
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann

#tinydesk #nprmusic #caroline

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