Welcome To KooKoo Island. Cari Cari

It is about four years ago I first got to hear Cari Cari. 'Anaana' became one of my favourite albums of 2018 and of the whole 2010s. A live show in Paradiso was fantastic as well. And then came the pandemic and slowly but surely Cari Cari moved back into the mist of thousands and thousands of albums and bands. Until the summer of 2022 when the digital version of Welcome To KooKoo Island landed in my inbox.

The first listen was a disappointment. There's no denying there. In the second things slightly changed and by now the album can't get itself out of my player. Welcome To KooKoo Island is totally addictive. Perhaps slightly more laidback than Anaana, although that may be more due to the energetic live show than to the actual album.

Cari Cari is a duo that came out of Vienna but decided to become globetrotters. Undoubtedly, like everybody else they were limited in their trotting in the recent years. This album was created in London, Hamburg and Madrid. Not exactly Australia but still more than most people can claim in the past few years. Stephanie Widmer and Alexander Koeck are musical and life partners and together are responsible for all you hear and see.

Promo photo

Their music is a perfect blend of surf guitar, exotic and modern rhythms and mystery. For those who remember The xx, that kind of mystery in music. The reverb on the guitar is what sets the main atmosphere. Fans of Dutch band Donna Blue will recognise it for certain. Cari Cari lays down the 1960s French sigh girl music a lot less obviously into its music. The fact the duo recently played a few support slots for another Dutch band, My Baby, is more understandable.

By alternating the lead vocals, Cari Cari makes the album unpredictable. What to expect next? Of course this changes after the umpteenth listening session. The variation remains. I simply love how the mood changes between the songs. A sound rocking song like 'Bubu Fire' goes down extremely well after the dreamy and beautiful 'Around The Bend'. With each song Cari Cari touches the right snare, reverberating deeply within me. The only exception is the final song, ballad 'Departure from Kookoo Island'. It's too dreamy to my taste. That is the only thing I can hold against this album.

Overlooking it all, Welcome To KooKoo Island is a glorious return for the duo. This is an album that I will keep playing for a long time, just like its predecessor 'Anaana'. The only question remaining will it get as many hits as 'Anaana' did on this blog? That album remains one of the best read ever posts on this blog.

Wout de Natris