I reviewed Mad Violet’s first album Worry the Jury for another publication a couple of summers ago, and while I found it pleasant enough to the ear, it didn’t really bowl me over as a must-listen record. But here we are now, one record and one road trip later seems to be all that it took for the dynamic duo of Lisa MacIsaac and Brentley MacEachern to find folk roots and plant them in a musical garden overrun with over-produced pop beats. If your sole familiarity with the Mad Violet ladies is through radio hits like “Wake Up”, may I humbly suggest that Caravan make it to your must-listen list.
On Worry The Jury there was a definite division of labour, not that one band mate did more than the other, but there was a feeling of separation between the music of MacIsaac and MacEachern. Caravan by contrast is more melodic and more collaborative; each artist brings their specific strength, and they combine them together in the musical moment of performing as opposed to a post-production mixing board. On Caravan , there’s a song called “Worry The Jury”, which is odd in the listening because its sound, tempo and general organic flavour flies in the face of everything that similarly named album was. The corker though is the final track “Never Saw The Ending” that features a wicked MacIsaac fiddle solo that recalls the manic energy of her brother Ashley. While the finished product isn’t perfect, the old pop notes sneak in a little too frequently; I do like where the band is going.
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