Caveman—a five-man vibe collective from NYC—released their first album in 2011. As first
albums go, CoCo Beware was something akin to a moody statement of intent, a blueprint for a
band quickly learning how to create horizon-wide rock songs that were equal parts intimate and
expansive. Initially self-released and later snatched up by Fat Possum for re-release in early 2012,
the record brims over with four-part harmonies, crystalline guitar lines, and tracks that seesawed between echoey lullaby (“A Country’s King of Dreams”) to shoegaze-by-way-of classicFM-radio sprawl (“Old Friend”). The album quickly elevated Caveman from local band to watch
to a sizable touring draw and formidable live act, as evidenced by stints on the road with the
likes of The War on Drugs and Built to Spill. Despite being the work of a brand new band, CoCo
Beware displayed a kind of Zen-like ease. It was the sound a five friends settling into a nice
groove; the music that happens when, for whatever reason, a lot of seemingly disparate
elements finally fall into place.
On their self-titled sophomore album Caveman stretch their legs in a number of different, albeit
cohesive, directions. While the dreaded second album experience tends to be fraught for many
bands, in the case of Caveman it proved to be the opposite. Having ridden a fast-growing wave
of support for CoCo Beware—which, after two years of touring, ultimately culminated in a series
of big hometown NYC shows—recording a follow up proved to be a genuine good time for the
band.
“We all went up to Jimmy’s grandmother’s place in New Hampshire,” says singer Matthew
Iwanusa. “That’s where the new record kind of started. It was literally the attic of her barn, lit up
by Christmas lights. We’d all sit in this one room together and one by one we’d all go into the
bathroom and record ourselves making the most psycho noises possible. It actually felt kind of
like a weird breakthrough. We were all confident and comfortable enough with each other to try
out these experiments, which extended itself into the making of the new record…which is really
just an evolution of this vibe that we’d been cultivating for long time.”