Steeped in both somber reflections and a resolve for better days within a haunting folk sound, Caravan is the gripping debut album from twins, the project of London-based musician, tattooist, and visual artist Loz KeyStone. After time in Colombia working with ayahuasca unearthed a suppressed urge to make music again, KeyStone left London and moved into a caravan on a West Country apple farm, where the album slowly took shape in solitude and nature. The result is a resonating folk success, thematically capturing the connection between oneself and what keeps them from living life to their fullest.
Opening track “Avoidance” consumes in its ghostly folk atmospherics and lyrical intimacy, reflecting feelings of hesitation and unease when confronted with particular emotions. “I don’t know how to love you,” the vocals ascend in the second half, conveying a heartfelt vulnerability as trickling guitars continue amidst textured twangs. Further references to “cryptic feelings” bolster that sense of introspective in-between, as added guitar lines inject a soulful lo-fi rock edge as the track concludes. The subsequent “Feel Your Phone” continues to immerse with hints of doubt within a relationship; the opening line “if you feel alone when we’re together” echoes as such, culminating in a “like blood in water” comparison to personal healing following faded connections. The album’s opening one-two punch stirs in its heart-on-sleeve melancholy and solemn folk productions.
Another standout track, “A Muted Thing” weaves pit-pattering rhythmic subtleties with lush acoustics and warming aspirations for solace; the vocals plead for one to “feel love” — continuing “I want you to know light, not as a distant thing but so closely that it sleeps with you at night.” Faint bird-chirping and a brass-like subtlety lingers in the background, contributing to the riveting soundscape. It makes for a cathartic culmination following the opening tracks’ emphasis on more personal tumult, now aiming to feel love — and for others to do the same — rather than wallowing in doubt. Caravan consistently consumes in its emotive reflections on past things gone awry, though on tracks like “Feel Your Phone” and “A Muted Thing” also compels with acknowledgements of personal healing and the opportunity to find love and light again.
The project first caught our ears with the track “Dust” in April, and its Radiohead-esque haunts are placed in the middle of Caravan with impactful allure; we dug in-depth into the track here, and its lovely music is also recommended, here. Ensuing track “Meant The World” also features a music video, bolstering gorgeous songwriting that seemingly contemplates the emotional aftermath of a relationship’s end — focusing on exhaustion, unspoken pain, and the irreversible weight of words. “All the things we said / Spin round the room and settle like dust,” the vocals let out, capturing the power of lingering words that continue to resonate, and into a hopeful concluding reassurance for brighter days: “Give it a year and it’ll be more like a blunted knife.” Caravan enthralls throughout with its gorgeously haunting folk sound, and poetic lyrical prowess that captures personal strife, though also the beauty of personal healing and better days ahead.
