Manchester collective Caulbearers have released their debut album Come Back Home, out now on Single Cell Recordings. It follows a sold-out launch show at The Carlton Club and the singles Next World, Twisted Cord and Brothers At The Wheel, with Truth as the focus track for the release.
The band formed in 2007 and are led by Damien Mahoney. They came out of Hulme in Manchester as part of the Single Cell Collective, where art and music met activism. The core players are Dan Mitchell on bass, Stefan Skrimshire on cello, guitarist Anton Hunter, percussionist Gavin Mullan and Will Lenton on sax and keys. Somerset folk singer Ruth Blake sings on all but one song, and Bengali-heritage singer Sarah Sayeed guests on the other.
The album has 24 contributing artists in all, including pianist John Ellis (The Cinematic Orchestra), bassist Alex Berry and drummers Rob Turner (GoGo Penguin), Howard Jacobs and Grenville Harrop. It was mixed by Seadna McPhail, whose credits include Badly Drawn Boy, Jah Wobble and Happy Mondays, and mastered by Jim Spencer, who has worked with New Order, Johnny Marr and the Charlatans.
The chorus of Truth was inspired by the rhythm of chants by Tibetan monks, who invited Mahoney to record them at prayer in the refugee settlement of Bylakuppe in South India. The vocal and cello melody in Paths came from a devotional mantra he heard on India's east coast while recovering in hospital, and Small Space finishes with Cuban horns and an increasingly frenzied sax.
A DIY band who recorded monks at prayer, brought in 24 players and still made the whole thing themselves, from the videos to the design, is exactly what I want to be backing. I was glad to post Brothers At The Wheel when it came out, and having the full album arrive after that makes it an easy one to recommend to anyone who likes their soul, funk and dub with a conscience.
The press release lists the influences as soul, funk, hip-hop, dub, jazz, indie pop and folk, and suggests it's one for fans of Talking Heads, The Specials, A Certain Ratio, Massive Attack and The Cinematic Orchestra. Mahoney says the songs are "rarely stories specifically, but more like moods, deep emotional states or parallel worlds".
The ten tracks are Harpses, Truth, Next World, Over Comes A Cloud, Paths, Twisted Cord, Small Space, Brothers At The Wheel, Burst Through The Borders and Once Inseparable.
Listen and buy:
- Bandcamp: https://caulbearers.bandcamp.com/album/come-back-home-album
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2Ahc9ULmrLEJitef3fTPzV
- Brothers At The Wheel video: https://youtu.be/YGuX5sJ8hpM