CAAMP: “By and By”
Review by Charlotte Larson
The harsh reality of summer as an adult: is watching it pass by through an office window. However, Caamp’s “By and By” album has the ability of transport you out of your cubicle or city apartment to a wide open space, to the mountains, where time just moves easier.
The Ohio trio Caamp recorded and produced their latest album “By and By,” in Fort Worth Texas, clad in white t shirts using vintage equipment. The boys had “high hopes and no reservations” and this mentality overflows into the music. The album is mature, aching with sincerity and simplicity, reminding you why you fell in love with folk music in the first place.
Caamp’s music moves like a summer day. Evoking memories of taking a quick dip in the river, the slow transition into an evening in fresh denim, drinking a dangerously strong punch in someone’s backyard. “By and By” is curated in perfect lulls. From acoustic to twangy electric leads, you never question the natural progression. Caamp cultivates their own unique sound, dabbling in folk, rock and a bite of bluegrass. Taylor Meier smoky vocals are effortlessly smoothed out by Evan Westfall’s.
Each song, while complimenting the work as a whole, exists in its own separate moment. Opening with “Feels like Home,” builds slowly, that erupts into a brisk, foot tapping melody. The song is gritty and lovely, setting the tone for the rest of the album, seemingly to ask the question, where do you feel the most at home? What state, what city, or is it a person? (if the answer is a person, maybe you should call them).
“Keep the Blues Away” and “Peach Fuzz” are songs that swings you straight back onto a sticky bar dance floor. Where everyone has a cheap beer in their hand and boys say things like “you are sweeter than chamomile.” Whereas a song like “Penny Heads up” and “Moonsmoke” are quiet and pensive, meant for wandering mind and a stoop cigarette.
“By and By” is a carefully curated collection of story-telling. A sound that plants you deep into American soil, wrapping you in an overwhelming sense of home, wherever it may be. Simply put: it’s just good music.
Suggestions:
Listen to “By and By” start to finish.
In front of your speaker or in your car.
Beer or whiskey highly recommended.
Swing dance around your living room with your sweetheart.