Posted by ‘Burrows’ – the debut album by Leeds based trio Caro – isn’t for everyone. It’s dark, deeply introspective lyrics and time signature flip-flopping antics can be quite disconcerting. However, by the time you have endured a second listen, what you come to find is a completely honest, brutally raw cry for help, set to the backdrop of experimental instrumentation and syncopated brilliance.
The melancholic-crooning that can be found soaring over the opening track ‘Closet Lunatic’ will sound very familiar to anyone who has heard an experimental alt-rock album in the past two decades; with the line “underneath your goody two shoes, is a dirty pair of socks that you’re never going to wash” taking clear inspiration from the staccato vocal delivery that can be found all over alt-J’s 2014 album ‘This Is All Yours’.
Burrows is by no means reinventing the musical wheel with its existence. What we do get, however, is a perfect juxtaposition of emotions. Floaty melodies are complimented with beautifully insufferable, self-defeating lyrics. There is no better example of this beautiful pairing than the harrowingly honest ‘Cat’s Pyjamas’, in which frontman Adam Pardey sings about how he “can’t stop thinking about how [he] wants to die”. And how he wishes to use a plastic bag as a face mask.
Burrows has been a long time in the making, with the powerful first single ‘Cold Comfort’ first being released back in 2016. Unfortunately for Caro, none of the new three tracks stand out particularly. With new song ‘Monster Man’ providing some beautiful lyrics that are overshadowed by purposely strange vocal delivery.
Caro’s debut album certainly shines bright and is beautifully off-putting in everything it tries, from its lyrics to its musicality. The effects on you, however, will depend on your ability to be challenged by the music you listen to.
7/10
Words: Mason Meyers
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