I have a lot of soft spots in music. One of those soft spots is undoubtedly dark folk music that describes broken characters in search of better days who, despite their best efforts, either unwittingly fall back into bad habits or self sabotage on their path to redemption.
In other words, CAAMP’s 2016 self-titled debut is kind of my thing.
Lead singer Taylor Meier’s tortured voice is a perfect conduit for his forlorn and moody serenades, backed by Evan Westfall’s sparse arrangements of acoustic guitars, spindly mandolins, and gorgeously haunting backup vocals. The production process on this album is excellent, and sounds like CAAMP set up shop in a living room with a pair of mics, poured a glass of bourbon, and cranked out 10 songs over the course of a weekend. It is stripped back and raw in all of the best ways.
The stunning “So Long Honey” defines the album’s sound, hungover heartbreak personified, a moment where you stumble out of your bedroom and down the hall to the front porch where you wait with bated breath for your true love to come home to you. She probably never does, and you probably spend the rest of the day alone.
It is a wonderful vignette on an album filled chock-full with them.
Standout Songs: “So Long Honey”, “All The Debts I Owe”, “Iffy”
