Caroline Wiles Releases A Warm and Soulful Album
- BuzzSlayers
- Apr 24
- 3 min read
The new album from Caroline Wiles has just been released, and the record is packed with amazing levels of personality that feel honest and genuine, along with a brilliantly vintage style tonality that brings out elements of classic rhythm and blues, soul, hints of contemporary pop, and even folk.
The album is called Just Be You, and the title track starts the record right off.
Right off the bat, you have warm organs, soulful blues-style guitar performances, and just this incredibly inviting vocal tone that pulls you right into the song.
You can hear the classic doo-wop influence, loads of soul just pouring out of every note, and the whole thing is the kind of song you dance to with a loved one.
I love songs like this because they wrap themselves around you in such a particular way.
Caroline's singing is also very warm. She performs with an almost delicate approach on this track. She keeps things dynamically subtle and balanced, just delivering that classic approach all the way through. The aesthetic of the song was completely nailed.
It sounds like a track that could have been released in the late 1970s. Or, at least written in the late 1970s.
Then there are songs like "Cherry Blossom", which come through with Fleetwood Mac-style classic rock influence. The organ still plays a key role in the soundscape of everything, but this one has a little bit more of a rock ' n ' roll underbelly to it.
It's about this point in the record that you start to really understand the many influences that Caroline holds close to her heart. You also begin to understand how she's able to lace those influences through the record so that it sticks to its rhythm and blues kind of soulful approach, but does have the ability to branch out into different areas.
"Sweet Marie" features drifting notes that sound like they're coming from both guitars and maybe lap steel. This song hints at Americana. This is what I mean when I mentioned the folk influence as well. It's got a sort of rootsy undertone that comes out, and the meshing of textures and tones between the instruments and her vocals really creates something whole.
It's quite a beautiful song, but the whole album is gorgeous. The record was very well woven with loads of attention paid to the tones of those instruments, but also the amount of soul and heart that comes through as the record unfolds.
This is one of those albums that you listen to all the way through, all at once.
It's 12 songs and about 40 minutes in length, but it feels bigger.
"Gentle Like Autumn Rain" is a personal kind of track, but the lyrics are so descriptive that it paints a picture while you listen.
The approach to this song certainly has more of the Americana influence, but also that classic folk approach. It's got that lap steel giving you notes that float through the song's ether, while you hear instruments like banjo and acoustic guitar flowing.
The record closes up with a track called "Into The Wild and Free", which has to be one of my favorites on the entire record aside from that very first, title track.
I dig this one because it has all these orchestrated string sections, or so it sounds. I like this because it adds a lot of depth and these different kinds of layers to the track. It builds a bit of a cinematic approach and feel that adds to some of the levels of intensity.
This whole thing is quite an experience. The songs play out almost like diary entries, and she's an amazing storyteller, so lyrically she gives you plenty to chew on, while the vocals themselves are performed with such a beautiful tone that you get stuck on almost every song.
This is definitely not a record you want to miss. As I said, it just released today and is more than worth your time, especially if you love songs that make you think or tell great stories.
It's been quite some time since I've heard an album that gives this much soul and warmth with such a wonderful subtlety.
None of it is forced. It's all a completely natural feeling.
Don't miss this one and again, listen to the whole record because this plenty of great surprises around its corners.
Remember where you heard it first.
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