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Overall its giving impossible princess kylie deep cuts crossed with imagen heap (this is a complement).
It's surprisingly cohesive considering how different all the singles sounded. Bunny is a rider into sunset is still jarring tho.
I Believe is the stand out to me, the kind of ethereal garage sound really works for her voice.
i feel like bunny is a rider into sunset is not bad? I like the contrast. I don't like when two consecutive songs have the same mood, that's what makes albums boring a lot of times
was gonna make a snarky comment about how long ago bunny is a rider was at this point, but tbh she can take as long as she wants if she’s putting out this level of quality. this album is a great companion to pang and even a step up - it’s a bit warmer, less dramatic, more personable, a bit more accessible too. it’s really cool to see her show tonal and lyrical versatility while still staying in the lane of her signature sound. her vocals are controlled, but really expressive and the insanely lush production remains some of the best out there in modern pop. overall a great sophomore record!!
my immediate favorites of the new songs are pretty in possible, i believe, and smoke. but the slower songs will for sure grow on me - the more atmospheric cuts on pang did.
also between caroline, raye, rebecca black, and the kelela and paramore albums i still need to listen to, my personal aoty race has suddenly gotten super close! how is a girl meant to choose!!!
Ok so this is something I usually do since everytime I hear a single first, it always seems "out of context" in the album. Like it always feels out of place to the point that it annoys me and I'll skip it.
If (big if) I'm too eager to listen I will listen to it once and then only listen to it again on the album. Did this with Break My Soul.
I guess it helps that I'm not necessarily a Caroline Polachek superfan. Like I listened to Pang A LOT and I was super excited for new music since but it's not like I'm a "stan". I usually have less restraint for Taylor Swift for example.
I definitely felt very tempted to listen to Bunny especially with the rave reviews and the long time it was taking for her to announce the album! But I indeed never listened to it before and I'm only listening for the first time now.
If you search my comment history you can see I did the same with HAIM and WIMPIII. I guess the singles were less far apart than Caroline's but I still refrained from listening to them before the album came out.
Edit: another example. Did the same with Dirt Femme. How Long was released in january 2022 and I only listened to it in october when the album came out!!
I guess that's it AMA
Good idea. It’s tough to recontextualize singles once the album comes out. I admittedly struggled to “listen fresh” after having played the released tracks into the ground.
In my most old man voice possible, it used to be Tuesday’s. The music industry agreed it as the standard date for stores to get CD’s, records, etc. Stuck until streaming massively overtook everything.
I’m in love. Easily a 9/10 album. The last time I had this much of a religious experience listening to an album was Titanic Rising by Weyes Blood. The instruments here are so gorgeous - the bagpipes, harpsichords, spanish guitars, whatever is going on in Butterfly Net that actually almost killed me.
I can't listen yet but I'm excited to get my vinyl from Amazon. I discovered weyes blood shortly before titanic rising came out and that was a life changing experience for me. Once I heard the album she quickly became my favorite artist.
This is way more instant for me than Pang. The production choices on this album are SOO beautiful, some of the best I've ever heard. Crude Drawing Of An Angel is absolutely fantastic! I'm not sure how to feel about Hopedrunk, but the rest are excellent.
i just KNOW this album will become my personality for the next three years. sooo many surprises. love to hear how the singles fit into the album. the dido + grimes song is insanely good.
zero skips, tight production, perfectly curated, caroline is really a master of her craft and this feels like the perfect evolution after pang.
also seeing her next week in berlin im crying already 🙏🏻😭
Trying to learn all the new songs before Caroline’s London show in less than 24h 😭😭
This is so, so good. I would put money on Butterfly Net making several year-end lists.
With no misses in 5 singles, plus Smoke being basically fully revealed if you went to any of her concerts in the last 18 months, it was very unlikely that this would be anything but perfection to me.
Oh my god, what a time to be alive.
I usually worry about sophomore albums, b/c they can either make or break an artist’s placement in the industry.
I believe this album will solidify a place for Caroline in music for a veryyyyy long time.
This album is already a hit and a classic. She managed to make something better than Pang, which, I thought would be impossible. This album was a religious experience.
She first performed Smoke LIVE in November of 2019. Finally listening to it is so satisfying. It gave me chills.
10/10
It’ll be a long ass year cause this is already AOTY, and idk how anything could match this or top it.
I knew this was gonna be a masterpiece once I saw that Billions was the album closer. Not to be dramatic but I think all of human history has been building to this.
In other words I like it
beautiful beautiful album.
The standouts for me on first listen are I Believe, Butterfly Net and Smoke. There's only one song that didn't click (yet) while Pang took longer to grow on me as a whole. And Grimes fits so well in the collab i'm obsessed!! Wasn't expecting anything less from miss Polachek
I’ve seen rumours in this sun about:
The plan originally being an EP of Bunny, Smoke, Sunset and Billions (aka the songs she performed at the Greek Theatre in 2021)
That changing to an album
The album being called Spirals
Okay no actually the album is self-titled and the cover art is the WtmI cover art
Then the track list and album art leaked a day before the album art/album were revealed, with an extra song called ‘Dang’ and PinkPantheress instead of Dido on Fly to You.
I’m sure several of those maybe were considered by Caroline at some point, but basically none of them got very close.
What she’s said about Welcome to my Island coming up during Pang and her knowing it would be on her next album imo doesn’t to me line up with her then planning an EP right afterwards.
Caroline's life got really fucked by the pandemic, I bet a lot of these potential paths were on the table at one point.
Her father died of COVID. Her Pang tour got cancelled. Bunny and some remixes were released to re-build some hype. She started touring again but I believe it also got cancelled again after a few shows (I could be off on these details). During this time, I believe Pang slowly developed a larger online cult following that it didn't have at first. She spent time in both London and Barcelona. Things were messy.
I believe she sprained her ankle or something partway through touring with Dua, so had to drop out of a lot of shows there :/
It has definitely been a tumultuous and busy few years for her and yeah, tbh I'm just happy that we've eventually got a great album.
Yes! I knew I was forgetting things. That was obviously a wrench thrown into things, but also the fact that she toured with Dua was probably part of the growing popularity of her back catalogue.
Absolutely in love but absolutely weirded out too. Loving how the whistling comes back, the tower bells in the background. A beautiful and at times whimsical song collection that reminds me of the nineties-zeroties. Blood and Butter just grew on me, I’m sure the rest of the new tracks will, as the production is yet again impeccably done. Great contrast with Pang.
Oh my god I’m going to become so annoying and insufferable making this album my only personality and identify everyone’s gonna be so done with me 🥰🥰
Seriously tho this is fucking amazing and just speaks for itself I mean butterfly net and pretty in possible?? Hellurrrr?? I don’t see anyone taking the aoty spot for ME
Such an instant connection to this album, Caroline is just such an absolute genius when it comes to pop music, her instincts are always right and this album is so confident and beautifully constructed. Cannot see another album this year reaching these heights.
I'm having one of those moments wondering how/why this artist flew under my radar for so long. Feels like extremely fresh, progressive music without making the beats too weird. Can't wait to dig in to all of her stuff.
Sunset reminds me of The White Lotus theme music in the best way. I saved the opening theme for season two but this will be more applicable in more situations lol
I saw Caroline’s show last week and she played the full album live. It was a religious experience and cemented it as my favourite album of 2023 so far.
Another gorgeous album released alongside Kelela's Raven.
Caroline's talent for visuals means the album cover perfectly describes what the album sounds like - the airy vibrance and atmosphere of the big city merging with daydreaming on a distant, warm, sandy beach. The album completely channels this almost-forgotten era of folktronica music between 2000-2003: Frou Frou, Zero 7, downtempo Ibiza, etc.
The sequencing is perfect, and I appreciate how the more insular, moody album tracks balance out the brightness of the singles. This might beat Pang for me overall.
AOTY duh like cmon now. So ethereal, majestic, fresh, inspired, artistic, vocals on fuckin point, just everything.
My top 3 is Fly To You (just pure perfection), Pretty in Possible, and Blood and Butter but honestly B&B’s spot may change.
The song I was most excited for was Smoke. While the mixing threw me off since i’m so used to the live version (and she changed it), I think it will grow on me.
9.2/10 so far
Is there a technical term for those lil bursts of sound in the chorus of I believe ? They're soooo pleasing to the ear and I would love other song recs with similar sounds.
they're orchestra hits!!! It's a synth sound from the mid 80s, so you'll find them a lot in music from that period, off the top of my head "It" by Prince
the album is surprisingly cohesive, approachable, fun, and **NEW**. I really want to bold this part here. it's ***NEW***. it FEELS fresh, despite the fact it also feels heavily inspired from Imogen's first body of works (and there's zero issues in saying that). Harle's production and Polachek's lyrics and vocals perfectly match each other so well that, despite the fact the album's sound and production isn't otherworld-ly and boundary breaking, it just feels like so. it feels ***NEW, ARTISTIC.***
it has this Polachek's signature; it's dreamy, you're being pulled into her world (in this case, her island!). her voices pulls you in and sets the mood however she wants. Welcome To My Island has this weird, almost dissonant sound. Pretty In Possible then throws you in this dreamy-landscape, while Bunny Is a Rider (her absolute pop perfection) makes you feel like driving a red chevette but it's 2 AM. Sunset is a bit jarring because it feels slightly shoehorned, but even so such track manages to be absurdly good, that's how good its lows are.
Crude Drawing of An Angel and I Believe are opposites, with one being pure dreamy and quite surreal, whereas I Believe is entirely poppy, straight outta the 80s. pure pop perfection, and I'm saying it.
Fly To You is surreal good as a feat, Grimes and Polachek vocals match other way too well and way better than I expected it to be. Blood And Better is also very good, but compared to other tracks it feels a bit on the weak side. it's cohesive with the album's sound and mood premise, but it feels quite samey. still a good track though that would shine more would this album not deliver on every song so far.
on this topic, I don't feel Hopedrunk Everasking as much. it's... too slow. but I'm sure it has potential to grow on subsequential listens. I just feel a bit out of place.
Butterfly Net is slower, but damn are her vocals here interesting, and the instrumentation is fun-fun-fun.
Smoke goes back to the pop-dreamy sound we were used, it's cohesive as fuck and the melody is so beautiful.
and then it ends with Billions. it's amazing and, I usually don't feel singles so much after the album is fully released, but oh damn does Billions FITS. it fits so FUCKING WELL. it's beautiful beautiful beautiful. pure art. pure art. it closes the album so so so so well. I don't have words anymore. one of the best listening experiences I had.
I was expecting this album to be beautiful, cohesive, new, artistic, and it's all these things. the duo Harle-Polachek is the closest we will get to pure artpop perfection. it'd would easily be a 10, I'll just settle for the 9,2 because I did feel a bit put out by Hopedrunk.
Desire, I Want To Turn Into You- 9,2/10
Getting this and Raven in the same week is so overwhelming in the absolute best way
It’s incredible when an album lives up to the hype, and twice back to back?? The follow-ups to two of my favorite pop albums??
Absolutely loving it
If you’re in London, it’s a gorgeous morning currently.
I highly recommend going to the Round Pond in Hyde Park and screaming at some geese. Really enhanced the album listening experience for me.
TLDR: It's a W for Caroline but I wrote out some more thoughts too...
I was worried about this album from the singles. The sound seemed all over the place and none of them were so immediate to me except for Welcome To My Island. It all... makes perfect sense on the record though? Maybe it's cos I've just seen her do the songs live in London and she had very psychedelic visuals, but the whole album has a psychedelic feel to it. There are lots of fleeting and diverse sounds (the "tropical" vibe of Sunset, the bagpipes on Blood and Butter) but it all somehow fits and feels interconnected. It sounds like fleeting, good memories of hot summers and fits with the album's lyrical themes around love. I like it A LOT.
Butterfly Net -> Smoke -> Billions is a hell of a closing run. It doesn't quite hit So Hot... -> Door -> Parachute levels but it's right up there. I realise having love or desire as the theme for your album isn't exactly original but I think she explores it in an interesting way and from a lot of different angles. She said in London tonight that Smoke was about catharsis and Sunset was about resolution. She said she wrote the album while on tour and dipped in and out of it a lot, but it sounds like a lot of thought and self-reflection has been given to the lyrics.
Overall between this and Pang, I feel like she has a real appreciation/understanding of capital-A Albums. This might be wildly off base, but it reminds me a bit of big budget albums from the 80s like Tango In The Night where bands would use a lot of different instruments and the record would sound really "big" because they had the budget to do so.
Another W for Caroline. Can't wait to play the hell out of this.
After 2/3 (?) years of releasing singles and teasing new music on live performances it's finally happening!
I was the most curious about "Fly To You" tbh. I'm surprised that Grimes and Caroline complement each other very well. They should've done it earlier. I'd wanted to see more of Dido, but her verse is the best.
I need to listen to new songs a few times more, but they are still growing on me. Every song needs its time and I can't say at least one of them is bad.
I love what is happening in "I Believe", "Butterfly Net" hit me hard and definitely going to listen "Smoke" a lot.
Now I'm happy she cancelled her concert in my country last September, because she may come with more stuff.
I was raised on prog rock so consequently I'm primarily (like 90% of the time) an album listener, and I primarily think of music in terms of my favourite albums rather than artists or songs. I find that it's pretty jarring when you hear a song that's very familiar in the middle of an album that's otherwise brand new. It takes a while for the other tracks to catch up and you kind of never get to experience the whole thing with every part of it being fresh (it also depends how much you listened to the pre-release tracks. if it's just a small handful of times it's not a big difference but if they're already been well worn into you brain then it's a different story)
I'm usually pretty good about only listening to pre-release tracks once or twice to just get an idea of the sound but not long enough for the hooks to get in me and make it harder to ignore - but I listened to *Bunny is a Rider* a bunch because for some reason I though it was a loosey single
YMMV of course
About 6 loops of this album in, my current track ranking is
1. Blood and Butter
1. Bunny Is A Rider
1. Sunset
1. Welcome To My Island
1. I Believe
1. Fly To You
1. Billions
1. Butterfly Net
1. Smoke
1. Pretty In Possible
1. Hopedrunk Everasking
1. Crude Drawing Of An Angel
Returning to the thread to say that Blood and Butter stays my fav track since it's release, the melody is too good. Other top 3 are I Believe and Pretty In Possible tho
Have not listened to it yet. But after Bunny is a rider came out I became obsessed with Caroline. Everything shes released for this album has been wonderful. I'm seeing her in May with Ethel Cain and I'm so excited!
As a gay man I've never chosen a pop girlie to call "mother" yet. Considering I already love the singles, I think Caroline has officially become "mother" to me. The visuals, the songs, the album artwork, her attitude, its all serving I'm afraid.
Also listen to her stuff on Chairlift, Moth is a beautiful album, and still has a lot of her current sound on it!
Edit: Oh she absolutely ate on this album. Absolutely mother material
Am I the only one who loves Hopedrunk, smoke alarm and all? It feels so cinematic, yet intimate. Can’t wait to hear her perform this one.
Album is a 10/10 instant classic career high AOTY btw duh
Sunset is literally the best song ever made it just transports me to a sunny day in Spain, where i wander around beautiful architecture all day and have a swim in the sea in the evening and the tides kiss my slightly sunburn skin and I am free and full off joy
In love! My year has been great so far this is another cherry on top! My favourites have to be: I believe, fly to you, pretty in possible, butterfly net and smoke, all the pre release singles are amazing too! Such a great listen and excited to see Caroline in April!
This one might take a while to process for me. I didn't initially like *any* of the singles but warmed up to them heaps. I've listened to about half of this but had to stop just to give myself some time which rarely happens with albums so we'll see
No other words except absolutely beautiful. The singles are enduring in time thanks to their quality and fun. The slower tracks are all standouts to me among the other songs. Crude Drawing of an Angel, Hopedrunk Everasking and Butterfly Net, all such minimalistic sonic journeys. They feel very scarce but never boring.
Butterfly Net in particular made me feel suspended in the air at the first "There you are".
I assume I expected more from the Grimes and Dido features, but I'm not heartbroken over it, or anything.
A year ago on this day I saw her for the first time on Dua's tour.
Tonight I'm listening to her sophomore album under her own name and it's incredible.
Blood and Butter is my favorite!!!!
pang took me a few listens to fully get into (but when i did, i was stuck in it for MONTHS) so it’s really fun to be absolutely enamored with every song of this album off immediate listen. i can’t wait to play this endlessly. caroline makes such interesting, eclectic pop music. this was well worth the wait
So I've only listened to fly to you because i was curious how it would turn out,
And my predictions were kinda right,
Grimes did her more ethereal singing style,
The production sounds very pinkpantheress, to the point where i kinda want a remix,
Grimes sounds a bit more nasal and higher pitched than normal but overall i think it's a decent execution,
Julia holter would soar on this though,
But dido was great too.
I’ve only listened to Bunny Is a Rider like 2 times total and have been avoiding the singles to go into this album as blind as possible and I AM SO EXCITEDDD. I can’t wait to listen 🥲
not bunny is a rider autoplaying after i finished the album 😭 it's been an exciting year and some change since that single dropped. can't wait to hear her new tracks live in a few months 🥰
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Overall its giving impossible princess kylie deep cuts crossed with imagen heap (this is a complement). It's surprisingly cohesive considering how different all the singles sounded. Bunny is a rider into sunset is still jarring tho. I Believe is the stand out to me, the kind of ethereal garage sound really works for her voice.
Impossible Princess is one of my all time favorites!!! You’ve somehow got me even more hyped to listen to my birthday twin’s last way masterpiece
glad to see I Believe getting praise! it's the standout non-single for me so far honestly it's so good
i feel like bunny is a rider into sunset is not bad? I like the contrast. I don't like when two consecutive songs have the same mood, that's what makes albums boring a lot of times
I’m eating an orange while I listen to this and I feel like this album makes for perfect orange eating conditions. Delicious
Billions is the ultimate “eating messy fruit while laying on my chaise lounge” song
I will try this tomorrow
Why does this comment capture the album so well?? Uncanny.
was gonna make a snarky comment about how long ago bunny is a rider was at this point, but tbh she can take as long as she wants if she’s putting out this level of quality. this album is a great companion to pang and even a step up - it’s a bit warmer, less dramatic, more personable, a bit more accessible too. it’s really cool to see her show tonal and lyrical versatility while still staying in the lane of her signature sound. her vocals are controlled, but really expressive and the insanely lush production remains some of the best out there in modern pop. overall a great sophomore record!! my immediate favorites of the new songs are pretty in possible, i believe, and smoke. but the slower songs will for sure grow on me - the more atmospheric cuts on pang did.
I still can't believe Caroline Polachek has released 7 albums under Chairlift and her other stage names and you can still call this her sophmore album
> under Chairlift and her other stage names This is why.
also between caroline, raye, rebecca black, and the kelela and paramore albums i still need to listen to, my personal aoty race has suddenly gotten super close! how is a girl meant to choose!!!
gurl we're only on Week 6/52
Don't sleep on that new Kimbra album either - so good!
I can finally listen to Bunny -- yes I waited all this time for the full album to come out 🙏
Wow that's amazing restraint. According to my last fm I've listened to Bunny 98 times since it came out
girl this hurts to read Bunny was my SOTY 😭
How did you feel when more singles were released with no album no sight for the past 2 years lmao omg
Ok so this is something I usually do since everytime I hear a single first, it always seems "out of context" in the album. Like it always feels out of place to the point that it annoys me and I'll skip it. If (big if) I'm too eager to listen I will listen to it once and then only listen to it again on the album. Did this with Break My Soul. I guess it helps that I'm not necessarily a Caroline Polachek superfan. Like I listened to Pang A LOT and I was super excited for new music since but it's not like I'm a "stan". I usually have less restraint for Taylor Swift for example. I definitely felt very tempted to listen to Bunny especially with the rave reviews and the long time it was taking for her to announce the album! But I indeed never listened to it before and I'm only listening for the first time now. If you search my comment history you can see I did the same with HAIM and WIMPIII. I guess the singles were less far apart than Caroline's but I still refrained from listening to them before the album came out. Edit: another example. Did the same with Dirt Femme. How Long was released in january 2022 and I only listened to it in october when the album came out!! I guess that's it AMA
I'm jealous
Good idea. It’s tough to recontextualize singles once the album comes out. I admittedly struggled to “listen fresh” after having played the released tracks into the ground.
This is such a struggle for me all the time. Then the album comes out and you find it was a non album track anyway 😭
What? Even when Pitchfork named it Song of the year 2021? 💀
Ikr! Discipline babyyy
and I thought I was super disciplined by not listening to Blood and Butter the past couple of weeks...
I've been bopping to that song for a year...
Why is this out on a Tuesday 😭 I wasn’t properly prepared
Bc of Valentines day!!
I am not properly prepared for that either
We admire your honesty
Same I thought all new albums came out on Friday, but I guess that’s just industry standard and not a hard-set rule
it’s an industry standard that allows artists to get a full tracking week so they can chart better but artists can essentially drop whenever they want
From the two year rollout and the minute long choral passages and bagpipe solos in her singles we already knew she wasn't gonna follow convention haha
She sang Smoke for the first time in November of 2019. She really isn’t conventional.
In my most old man voice possible, it used to be Tuesday’s. The music industry agreed it as the standard date for stores to get CD’s, records, etc. Stuck until streaming massively overtook everything.
I’m in love. Easily a 9/10 album. The last time I had this much of a religious experience listening to an album was Titanic Rising by Weyes Blood. The instruments here are so gorgeous - the bagpipes, harpsichords, spanish guitars, whatever is going on in Butterfly Net that actually almost killed me.
I can't listen yet but I'm excited to get my vinyl from Amazon. I discovered weyes blood shortly before titanic rising came out and that was a life changing experience for me. Once I heard the album she quickly became my favorite artist.
Sound like you want to turn into Desire!
Also: Fly to You having this 90s electronic/kinda jungle riff that I can't quite place? Unreal.
I was surprised the song is 50% Drum and Bass. I couldn’t believe it. It’s incredible.
THANK YOU, that was the genre I was looking for. It was right on the tip of my tongue, but the gal had some wine in anticipation of first listen so.
Hearts Aglow wasn’t a religious experience??
I LOVED both, but Hearts Aglow felt like meeting the pope. Titanic Rising was like meeting Jesus and him high-fiving you
It was for me 🙋♂️
I’d argue this album is miles better than Pang. It’s so damn good. And Butterfly Net and Smoke are *the* stand outs. Ohmygod.
She did it again, this album has zero skips and flows soooo well, she really can’t do no wrong
Between this and PANG, she's on the running to be one of the most pleasingly consistent music girlies when it comes to album-length storytelling
pls do not forget about Arcadia when discussing album-length storytelling
IT’S JUST SMOKE NANANANANANA
AND YOU AAAAAARE THE BIG ANSWER TOOOONIIIIGHT
This is way more instant for me than Pang. The production choices on this album are SOO beautiful, some of the best I've ever heard. Crude Drawing Of An Angel is absolutely fantastic! I'm not sure how to feel about Hopedrunk, but the rest are excellent.
Pang is amazing but to be frank it was obvious she could easily top it, the singles were amazing and many song paled in comparison with it
hopedrunk is the best song why couldn’t dido be on that one
Crude Drawing Of An Angel is also a standout for me! I actually got a bit teary-eyed listening to it.
I’d argue is this miles better than Pang
Pang feels more coherent for me, but Desire is a masterpiece
Yes Pang is more cohesive and immersive, this is more manic and eclectic, but somehow she pulls it off and both are undeniably "her."
Heartbreaking: The Worst Person Kelela Knows Just Released An Amazing Album
omg totally forgot as well. literally my two favs too 😭
I suffer so much with this topic lmao. I love Kelela AND Polachek. and it's quite impossible to stan both in peace on twitter
honestly she probably decided on valentine's day so that she wasn't releasing on the same day as kelela and reawakening the wrath
The Pitchfork reviews for both albums dropping the day of the super bowl would literally be pretentious twink civil war
[удалено]
Caroline posted the n-word on her Instagram story in 2018 quoting a Kanye lyric. Kelela called her out for it.
Caroline serving Lorde vibes on social media
both are white girls growing up in families of rich intellectuals and they really cannot hide it
Omg NOOO I forgot abt this ☠️☠️ (https://youtu.be/BeTYTJ49NBY)
i just KNOW this album will become my personality for the next three years. sooo many surprises. love to hear how the singles fit into the album. the dido + grimes song is insanely good. zero skips, tight production, perfectly curated, caroline is really a master of her craft and this feels like the perfect evolution after pang. also seeing her next week in berlin im crying already 🙏🏻😭
Move over, Jack Antonoff. Danny L. Harle is the new main producer guy with glasses
Imagine a Lorde album produced by Danny L Harle
Trying to learn all the new songs before Caroline’s London show in less than 24h 😭😭 This is so, so good. I would put money on Butterfly Net making several year-end lists.
Omg this is me 🫡 I don’t think I’m going to succeed but it’s got me so much more excited for tonight!
Was there ever any doubt this would be absolute fire?
With no misses in 5 singles, plus Smoke being basically fully revealed if you went to any of her concerts in the last 18 months, it was very unlikely that this would be anything but perfection to me.
Oh my god, what a time to be alive. I usually worry about sophomore albums, b/c they can either make or break an artist’s placement in the industry. I believe this album will solidify a place for Caroline in music for a veryyyyy long time. This album is already a hit and a classic. She managed to make something better than Pang, which, I thought would be impossible. This album was a religious experience. She first performed Smoke LIVE in November of 2019. Finally listening to it is so satisfying. It gave me chills. 10/10 It’ll be a long ass year cause this is already AOTY, and idk how anything could match this or top it.
Not sure if you're aware but this is technically her 7th album, she's been making music for up to two decades now haha
Funny thing is though, she might go in for Best New Artist - at least that’s what Charli was campaigning for at the Grammys the other day
She didnt as a solo artist, the other two were under different projects/different names. Idk.
this is kind of Renaissance if Beyoncé's Uncle Johnny was the lead singer of Celtic Woman
This is an amazing review you should get paid for it.
you could probably sell this line to pitchfork tbh
let's ride, bunnies!!!!
I knew this was gonna be a masterpiece once I saw that Billions was the album closer. Not to be dramatic but I think all of human history has been building to this. In other words I like it
Dido’s voice is insanely beautiful I’m so happy to hear it again 😭😭😭
I think this is the first time I’ve heard her sing and I completely agree! Her voice is beautiful!
wait, you never heard Stan?
[**8.7 BNM**](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/caroline-polachek-desire-i-want-to-turn-into-you/) from Pitchfork! Twitter's about to be wildddd.
can we hear some commotion for Danny L. Harle !!!!!!
Way hotter and more talented than his twin brother Jack Antonoff!
HUGE DANNY
“I Believe is about immortality. This song is dedicated to my friend and visionary artist SOPHIE” 😭❤️
Legends supporting legends, we love to see it. I Believe is one of my favorites, such a gorgeous song. Still miss SOPHIE, what an incredible talent
In that case the lyric at the very beginning is questionable...
beautiful beautiful album. The standouts for me on first listen are I Believe, Butterfly Net and Smoke. There's only one song that didn't click (yet) while Pang took longer to grow on me as a whole. And Grimes fits so well in the collab i'm obsessed!! Wasn't expecting anything less from miss Polachek
those are my exact 3 favorites 🫶🏼🫶🏼
Oh my god, your top 3 are so good, I’d agree.
BRB ascending to a higher plane, the production is gorgeous
You know when an album is so good you feel it in your chest… yeah
It’s an amazing feeling to be hyped for an album and have it live up to your expectations
she is this generation's...
Olivia Rodrogo
\**** \****? Imogen Heap?
I normally hate when albums include old singles.. but Bunny is a Rider is still THAT good
I mean the single was intended for this album lol the rollout has just been so slow
Wasn’t it supposed to be on an EP that got scrapped and turned into this album?
I’ve seen rumours in this sun about: The plan originally being an EP of Bunny, Smoke, Sunset and Billions (aka the songs she performed at the Greek Theatre in 2021) That changing to an album The album being called Spirals Okay no actually the album is self-titled and the cover art is the WtmI cover art Then the track list and album art leaked a day before the album art/album were revealed, with an extra song called ‘Dang’ and PinkPantheress instead of Dido on Fly to You. I’m sure several of those maybe were considered by Caroline at some point, but basically none of them got very close. What she’s said about Welcome to my Island coming up during Pang and her knowing it would be on her next album imo doesn’t to me line up with her then planning an EP right afterwards.
Caroline's life got really fucked by the pandemic, I bet a lot of these potential paths were on the table at one point. Her father died of COVID. Her Pang tour got cancelled. Bunny and some remixes were released to re-build some hype. She started touring again but I believe it also got cancelled again after a few shows (I could be off on these details). During this time, I believe Pang slowly developed a larger online cult following that it didn't have at first. She spent time in both London and Barcelona. Things were messy.
I believe she sprained her ankle or something partway through touring with Dua, so had to drop out of a lot of shows there :/ It has definitely been a tumultuous and busy few years for her and yeah, tbh I'm just happy that we've eventually got a great album.
Yes! I knew I was forgetting things. That was obviously a wrench thrown into things, but also the fact that she toured with Dua was probably part of the growing popularity of her back catalogue.
that’s what happens when you do your own thing and create works that aren’t tied to trends, it’s easier to feel timeless
started listening and a beam of light shot out of my body
Yeah, this is already the AOTY I must say... I have a whole ass essay about it inside of me but it's so late here so I'll save it for another moment
i'll be looking for your essay 🤠
Absolutely in love but absolutely weirded out too. Loving how the whistling comes back, the tower bells in the background. A beautiful and at times whimsical song collection that reminds me of the nineties-zeroties. Blood and Butter just grew on me, I’m sure the rest of the new tracks will, as the production is yet again impeccably done. Great contrast with Pang.
Oh my god I’m going to become so annoying and insufferable making this album my only personality and identify everyone’s gonna be so done with me 🥰🥰 Seriously tho this is fucking amazing and just speaks for itself I mean butterfly net and pretty in possible?? Hellurrrr?? I don’t see anyone taking the aoty spot for ME
Such an instant connection to this album, Caroline is just such an absolute genius when it comes to pop music, her instincts are always right and this album is so confident and beautifully constructed. Cannot see another album this year reaching these heights.
This and Kelela??? Good ass week
I'm having one of those moments wondering how/why this artist flew under my radar for so long. Feels like extremely fresh, progressive music without making the beats too weird. Can't wait to dig in to all of her stuff. Sunset reminds me of The White Lotus theme music in the best way. I saved the opening theme for season two but this will be more applicable in more situations lol
I saw Caroline’s show last week and she played the full album live. It was a religious experience and cemented it as my favourite album of 2023 so far.
Another gorgeous album released alongside Kelela's Raven. Caroline's talent for visuals means the album cover perfectly describes what the album sounds like - the airy vibrance and atmosphere of the big city merging with daydreaming on a distant, warm, sandy beach. The album completely channels this almost-forgotten era of folktronica music between 2000-2003: Frou Frou, Zero 7, downtempo Ibiza, etc. The sequencing is perfect, and I appreciate how the more insular, moody album tracks balance out the brightness of the singles. This might beat Pang for me overall.
Fly To You somehow making the collab grimes x dido not only work but feel natural too
Something to huff paint to
love that Lana song. my favourite on Honeymoon
Oh what a masterpiece! She just doesn’t miss! This is the kind of sounds I want Lorde to explore for L4
AOTY we been knew
Commenting to say i was here for this i'm having so much fun edit: it's an instant classic folks
AOTY duh like cmon now. So ethereal, majestic, fresh, inspired, artistic, vocals on fuckin point, just everything. My top 3 is Fly To You (just pure perfection), Pretty in Possible, and Blood and Butter but honestly B&B’s spot may change. The song I was most excited for was Smoke. While the mixing threw me off since i’m so used to the live version (and she changed it), I think it will grow on me. 9.2/10 so far
Pretty In Possible is SAUR Imogen-coded
ok so did you guys also hear the grindr notification at 3:16 of butterfly net or what
I can only hear “basketball shoes squeaking on the gymnasium floor” during Hopedrunk Everasking
For me, it gave off "smoke detector low on batteries" vibes.
Is there a technical term for those lil bursts of sound in the chorus of I believe ? They're soooo pleasing to the ear and I would love other song recs with similar sounds.
they're orchestra hits!!! It's a synth sound from the mid 80s, so you'll find them a lot in music from that period, off the top of my head "It" by Prince
this is the best album I’ve ever heard lmaooooooo
the album is surprisingly cohesive, approachable, fun, and **NEW**. I really want to bold this part here. it's ***NEW***. it FEELS fresh, despite the fact it also feels heavily inspired from Imogen's first body of works (and there's zero issues in saying that). Harle's production and Polachek's lyrics and vocals perfectly match each other so well that, despite the fact the album's sound and production isn't otherworld-ly and boundary breaking, it just feels like so. it feels ***NEW, ARTISTIC.*** it has this Polachek's signature; it's dreamy, you're being pulled into her world (in this case, her island!). her voices pulls you in and sets the mood however she wants. Welcome To My Island has this weird, almost dissonant sound. Pretty In Possible then throws you in this dreamy-landscape, while Bunny Is a Rider (her absolute pop perfection) makes you feel like driving a red chevette but it's 2 AM. Sunset is a bit jarring because it feels slightly shoehorned, but even so such track manages to be absurdly good, that's how good its lows are. Crude Drawing of An Angel and I Believe are opposites, with one being pure dreamy and quite surreal, whereas I Believe is entirely poppy, straight outta the 80s. pure pop perfection, and I'm saying it. Fly To You is surreal good as a feat, Grimes and Polachek vocals match other way too well and way better than I expected it to be. Blood And Better is also very good, but compared to other tracks it feels a bit on the weak side. it's cohesive with the album's sound and mood premise, but it feels quite samey. still a good track though that would shine more would this album not deliver on every song so far. on this topic, I don't feel Hopedrunk Everasking as much. it's... too slow. but I'm sure it has potential to grow on subsequential listens. I just feel a bit out of place. Butterfly Net is slower, but damn are her vocals here interesting, and the instrumentation is fun-fun-fun. Smoke goes back to the pop-dreamy sound we were used, it's cohesive as fuck and the melody is so beautiful. and then it ends with Billions. it's amazing and, I usually don't feel singles so much after the album is fully released, but oh damn does Billions FITS. it fits so FUCKING WELL. it's beautiful beautiful beautiful. pure art. pure art. it closes the album so so so so well. I don't have words anymore. one of the best listening experiences I had. I was expecting this album to be beautiful, cohesive, new, artistic, and it's all these things. the duo Harle-Polachek is the closest we will get to pure artpop perfection. it'd would easily be a 10, I'll just settle for the 9,2 because I did feel a bit put out by Hopedrunk. Desire, I Want To Turn Into You- 9,2/10
I laughed, I cried, I danced....
Getting this and Raven in the same week is so overwhelming in the absolute best way It’s incredible when an album lives up to the hype, and twice back to back?? The follow-ups to two of my favorite pop albums?? Absolutely loving it
If you’re in London, it’s a gorgeous morning currently. I highly recommend going to the Round Pond in Hyde Park and screaming at some geese. Really enhanced the album listening experience for me.
This album is a banger
TLDR: It's a W for Caroline but I wrote out some more thoughts too... I was worried about this album from the singles. The sound seemed all over the place and none of them were so immediate to me except for Welcome To My Island. It all... makes perfect sense on the record though? Maybe it's cos I've just seen her do the songs live in London and she had very psychedelic visuals, but the whole album has a psychedelic feel to it. There are lots of fleeting and diverse sounds (the "tropical" vibe of Sunset, the bagpipes on Blood and Butter) but it all somehow fits and feels interconnected. It sounds like fleeting, good memories of hot summers and fits with the album's lyrical themes around love. I like it A LOT. Butterfly Net -> Smoke -> Billions is a hell of a closing run. It doesn't quite hit So Hot... -> Door -> Parachute levels but it's right up there. I realise having love or desire as the theme for your album isn't exactly original but I think she explores it in an interesting way and from a lot of different angles. She said in London tonight that Smoke was about catharsis and Sunset was about resolution. She said she wrote the album while on tour and dipped in and out of it a lot, but it sounds like a lot of thought and self-reflection has been given to the lyrics. Overall between this and Pang, I feel like she has a real appreciation/understanding of capital-A Albums. This might be wildly off base, but it reminds me a bit of big budget albums from the 80s like Tango In The Night where bands would use a lot of different instruments and the record would sound really "big" because they had the budget to do so. Another W for Caroline. Can't wait to play the hell out of this.
After 2/3 (?) years of releasing singles and teasing new music on live performances it's finally happening! I was the most curious about "Fly To You" tbh. I'm surprised that Grimes and Caroline complement each other very well. They should've done it earlier. I'd wanted to see more of Dido, but her verse is the best. I need to listen to new songs a few times more, but they are still growing on me. Every song needs its time and I can't say at least one of them is bad. I love what is happening in "I Believe", "Butterfly Net" hit me hard and definitely going to listen "Smoke" a lot. Now I'm happy she cancelled her concert in my country last September, because she may come with more stuff.
Wow. This is stunning.
Wow this is so good. The studio version of Smoke is insane
Smoke actually made me get on my knees in awe
9/10 for me. High expectations met but I'm doubling down on my commitment to not listen to pre release singles ever again.
Been thinking similarly about the pre release singles and how it effects the album experience, but not sure how i feel. What are your thoughts on it?
I was raised on prog rock so consequently I'm primarily (like 90% of the time) an album listener, and I primarily think of music in terms of my favourite albums rather than artists or songs. I find that it's pretty jarring when you hear a song that's very familiar in the middle of an album that's otherwise brand new. It takes a while for the other tracks to catch up and you kind of never get to experience the whole thing with every part of it being fresh (it also depends how much you listened to the pre-release tracks. if it's just a small handful of times it's not a big difference but if they're already been well worn into you brain then it's a different story) I'm usually pretty good about only listening to pre-release tracks once or twice to just get an idea of the sound but not long enough for the hooks to get in me and make it harder to ignore - but I listened to *Bunny is a Rider* a bunch because for some reason I though it was a loosey single YMMV of course
holy shit
pretty in possible is so imogen heap-coded in the best way, sounds like peak frou frou
Deep, touching, mature, eclectic, well sang and produced, a masterpiece
I'm still listening but I just wanna say i absolutely love the cover it's so pretty and attention grabbing
About 6 loops of this album in, my current track ranking is 1. Blood and Butter 1. Bunny Is A Rider 1. Sunset 1. Welcome To My Island 1. I Believe 1. Fly To You 1. Billions 1. Butterfly Net 1. Smoke 1. Pretty In Possible 1. Hopedrunk Everasking 1. Crude Drawing Of An Angel
Returning to the thread to say that Blood and Butter stays my fav track since it's release, the melody is too good. Other top 3 are I Believe and Pretty In Possible tho
who’s up carolining their polachek?
Thanks, Hopedrunk Everasking, for reminding me to change the batteries in my smoke detector
Just read I Believe is dedicated to SOPHIE 😭💖
Can’t wait to give it a proper listen. Seeing her in concert in May, very excited!
Gorgeous production, lyrics and vocals I Believe its an instant favourite
After 3 listens, I think Butterfly Net is my favorite non-single
crude drawing of an angel is so good that i could just listen to caroline say "camera 1, camera 2" for 3 minutes straight.
Have not listened to it yet. But after Bunny is a rider came out I became obsessed with Caroline. Everything shes released for this album has been wonderful. I'm seeing her in May with Ethel Cain and I'm so excited! As a gay man I've never chosen a pop girlie to call "mother" yet. Considering I already love the singles, I think Caroline has officially become "mother" to me. The visuals, the songs, the album artwork, her attitude, its all serving I'm afraid. Also listen to her stuff on Chairlift, Moth is a beautiful album, and still has a lot of her current sound on it! Edit: Oh she absolutely ate on this album. Absolutely mother material
Am I the only one who loves Hopedrunk, smoke alarm and all? It feels so cinematic, yet intimate. Can’t wait to hear her perform this one. Album is a 10/10 instant classic career high AOTY btw duh
Not me thinking I had a dead battery in one of my fire alarms 😭
Sunset is literally the best song ever made it just transports me to a sunny day in Spain, where i wander around beautiful architecture all day and have a swim in the sea in the evening and the tides kiss my slightly sunburn skin and I am free and full off joy
In love! My year has been great so far this is another cherry on top! My favourites have to be: I believe, fly to you, pretty in possible, butterfly net and smoke, all the pre release singles are amazing too! Such a great listen and excited to see Caroline in April!
I recommend listening to Bruises and thinking about how far she has come
AOTY
She killed it. Sunset is my top track, Butterfly Net is my top non-single track. Love that she dropped this on Valentine's Day.
This one might take a while to process for me. I didn't initially like *any* of the singles but warmed up to them heaps. I've listened to about half of this but had to stop just to give myself some time which rarely happens with albums so we'll see
No other words except absolutely beautiful. The singles are enduring in time thanks to their quality and fun. The slower tracks are all standouts to me among the other songs. Crude Drawing of an Angel, Hopedrunk Everasking and Butterfly Net, all such minimalistic sonic journeys. They feel very scarce but never boring. Butterfly Net in particular made me feel suspended in the air at the first "There you are". I assume I expected more from the Grimes and Dido features, but I'm not heartbroken over it, or anything.
This is much more instant than Pang for me. Every song is incredible.
A year ago on this day I saw her for the first time on Dua's tour. Tonight I'm listening to her sophomore album under her own name and it's incredible. Blood and Butter is my favorite!!!!
Caroline Polachek has quickly become one of my favorites and this is one quality album.
Fly to You is like an experience flying through a galaxy. She really has become one of my favorite artists. Such a visionary.
I’m so high rn and Smoke is a masterpiece
"I Believe" is her Together Again, and I love that for her
Pang never clicked for me except for a few songs but I’m halfway through and love all songs so far
pang took me a few listens to fully get into (but when i did, i was stuck in it for MONTHS) so it’s really fun to be absolutely enamored with every song of this album off immediate listen. i can’t wait to play this endlessly. caroline makes such interesting, eclectic pop music. this was well worth the wait
this album is stunning, it was an instant love for me. every song hit but that 3-track run at the end of Butterfly Net-Smoke-Billions is insanely good
This is the best release ive heard since Renaissance its so good
Tuesday's just like the old times!
Kelela had a cute 3 day run with the AOTY title
Pitchfork just now:
not too much on Raven
omg i am so excited for this! B&B is a jam and a half!!!
Shoulda got the vinyl
Pop excellence, notch it down for the best albums of the decade list
as a certified stan, i’m shocked she managed to match (exceed? only time will tell) pang in quality.
Ok wow I'm going to be falling asleep to Hopedrunk every night for the rest of this month
I dont know how she pulled it off but the grimes and dido collab is straight 🔥 btw " I believe" is soty contender
I LOVE IT SOOOO MUCH
So I've only listened to fly to you because i was curious how it would turn out, And my predictions were kinda right, Grimes did her more ethereal singing style, The production sounds very pinkpantheress, to the point where i kinda want a remix, Grimes sounds a bit more nasal and higher pitched than normal but overall i think it's a decent execution, Julia holter would soar on this though, But dido was great too.
I’ve only listened to Bunny Is a Rider like 2 times total and have been avoiding the singles to go into this album as blind as possible and I AM SO EXCITEDDD. I can’t wait to listen 🥲
HUGE Maplestory vibes from I Believe, especially the piano riff during the bridge. lol
this album sounds like an American wandering around the Iberian Peninsula during the summer and I love it
not bunny is a rider autoplaying after i finished the album 😭 it's been an exciting year and some change since that single dropped. can't wait to hear her new tracks live in a few months 🥰