One More Trip Around The Sun. Cari Cari

Cari Cari entered this blog and my life with the fantastic and very energetic album 'Anaana' in 2018. The album was followed by 'Welcome To KooKoo Island' in 2022. An album that followed the same procedure but was just a little less than the official debut. That makes the third album more important. Is it a trend or a new take on the duo's music?

The first single of the album 'if u know u know' did not convince me, the second single and title song did. Add it together and the conclusion is that Cari Cari has left the musical path it was on and changed course in a dramatic way. On One More Trip Around The Sun there are at best some traces of the duo's energetic surfrock and reverb drenched music. The question is then of course, is the change successful?

Cleverly, the album opens with the title track. It has a trace of the surf guitar but also is extremely psychedelic, which brings memories of the previous two albums (and debut EP). The differences stand out a lot more, as the sound is very different and quiet, subdued. The male voice is dominant, where usually the female voice is. Two things jump at me. How psychedelic this song is, as in incorporating everything released since 1966 until today but also how mesmerising 'One More Trip Around The Sun' sounds. This is the kind of song that gets more under my skin with each listening session.

The song is the start of a musical trip Cari Cari takes me on. On two levels. The first is the makeover Cari Cari has undergone after the tour following 'Welcome To KooKoo Island' and the recording of One More Trip Around The Sun. This is simply not the same band from a musical point of view. The changes are so profound that I doubt if I had recognised the album to be Cari Cari's had I heard the album unexpectedly and without forewarning. There is more likeness to Dutch duo Donna Blue than ever before.

For level two, we get to the quality of One More Trip Around The Sun itself. I notice that with each spin I like the album better than the time before. Songs that at their primary level are not spectacular, are fantastic at the level above the chord changes. The arrangements, the inner tension Cari Cari creates, the elementary instruments that are all in their exact right place. Heck, in the final song 'Goodbye, Stranger', the duo even pulls off a successful Lana del Rey song.

The Vienna based duo Alexander Köck and Stephanie Widmer are at home in many places in the world, sucking up impressions and translating them into music. On One More Trip Around The Sun this led to a far more subtle blues / garage rock form, as in a The White Stripes and Blood Red Shoes style, then ever before. The volume is down and the band wants its fans to listen. In my 'Anaana' review I already pointed to Chris and Carla of The Walkabouts, that reference is more applicable to the duo's new album than ever before.

It is of course to early to tell, but I would be surprised if One More Trip Around The Sun would not turn out to be one of the important albums of 2025. At this point in time it's leading the pack alright.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order One More Trip Around The Sun here:

https://caricari.bandcamp.com/album/one-more-trip-around-the-world