Caroline 2 is the second studio album by British rock band Caroline, released on 30 May 2025 through

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis, who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. It is currently run by co-managing directors Travis and Jeannette Lee and ...

. The album received acclaim from critics.

Background

''Caroline 2'' was created over the course of 18 months during several writing sessions across the United Kingdom, with most of the recording done at Big Jelly Studios in

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

. The album was produced by the band, with engineering by Syd Kemp, mixing by Jason Agel, and mastering by Heba Kadry. It was announced on 15 April 2025, coinciding with the release of the lead single, "Tell Me I Never Knew That", featuring American musician Caroline Polachek.

Critical reception

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a normalized score out of 100 to ratings from mainstream publications, the album received a

weighted mean The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 87 based on 12 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Writing for ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...

'', Nick Seip awarded the album a perfect score of five stars, describing it as "an album of collisions: between time and space, past and present, precision and spontaneity," and praised its "fluidity" and "refusal to resolve". ''

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'' writer Chris Deville gave the album the accolade "Album of the Week," highlighting its innovative approach to post-rock and emphasizing its dynamic contrasts and experimental production. Deville noted the band's ability to blend various genres and sounds, creating a unique soundscape. Building on their first album, ''Caroline 2'' marks the second chapter of the band "learning how to speak a unique musical language". Ian Cohen of ''

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'' awarded ''Caroline 2'' the distinction of Best New Music and called it "a profound listening experience" that enables the band to "fully embrace their role as UK post-rock's preeminent sentimentalists". Devin Birse at ''

The Line of Best Fit ''The Line of Best Fit'' is an independent online magazine based in London, concentrating on new music. It publishes independent music reviews, features, interview, and media. Founded by Richard Thane in February 2007 and currently edited by P ...

'' highlighted the album's experimental approach, stating that ''Caroline 2'' "tears apart the clichés of rock, bringing in the endlessly shifting vocals of hyperpop and collage-style production of experimental rap to fracture and reassemble the traditions of not merely rock as a genre but post-rock itself." Eric Hill of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'' praised ''Caroline 2'' for its "organic growth" and boundary-pushing "improvisation," noting that the album "feels like the kind of organic growth that comes when a group is comfortable with improvisation and pushing boundaries." Steve Chick of ''

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'' rated the album four stars, noting its "newfound earnestness and openness to Caroline's songcraft," and described it as "more accessible and lucid" than their debut.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal.

Caroline

* Hugh Aynsley – drums (tracks 1–7), choir vocals (4) * Oliver Hamilton – violin (tracks 1–4, 7, 8), vocals (5), acoustic guitar (6) * Casper Hughes – production (all tracks), electric guitar (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 7), acoustic guitar (3, 8), choir vocals (4, 5),

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

(5), guitar (6) * Jasper Llewellyn – production, engineering (all tracks); vocals (tracks 1, 2),

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sou ...

s (3), acoustic guitar (4–6), guitar (7),

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

(8) * Magdalena McLean – vocals (tracks 1, 3, 5, 6),

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

(2, 4, 7, 8) * Alex McKenzie –

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

(all tracks), choir vocals (tracks 4, 5) * Mike O'Malley – production, engineering (all tracks); electric guitar (tracks 1–3, 7),

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

(4, 6), acoustic guitar (5), guitar (8) * Frederick Wordsworth – trombone (tracks 1, 2, 4, 8), bass guitar (1, 5, 7), trumpet (3), choir vocals (4, 5), vocals (6)

Additional contributors

Heba Kadry Heba Kadry is an Egyptian mastering engineer who currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. She is best known for her work with Björk, Beach House, Slowdive, The Mars Volta, Neon Indian, Wooden Shjips, Lightning Bolt, White Hills, Alex G, Futur ...

– mastering * Jason Agel – mixing * Syd Kemp – engineering * Fabian Prynn – engineering (track 1) * Mike Collins – engineering (tracks 2–5, 7, 8) * Neil Goody – engineering (track 3) * Caroline Polachek – vocals (track 3) * Cameron Picton – choir vocals (tracks 4, 5) * Joel Burton – choir vocals (tracks 4, 5) * Josh Barfoot – choir vocals (tracks 4, 5) * Naima Bock – choir vocals (tracks 4, 5) * Nancy Barnes – choir vocals (tracks 4, 5) * Poppy Hankin – choir vocals (tracks 4, 5) * Daniel S. Evans – DJ (tracks 4, 8), choir vocals (4) * Issy Armstrong – choir vocals (track 4) * Kiran Leonard – choir vocals (track 4) * Lottie Pendlebury – choir vocals (track 4) * Jennifer Walton – DJ (track 4) * Cameron Picton – choir vocals (tracks 4, 5)

Charts

References

{{reflist 2025 albums