Manchester-based collective Caulbearers presents their debut album ‘Come Back Home’, released by Single Cell Recordings, off the back of a sell-out album launch gig at The Carlton Club. Sounding a rallying call for unity at the grassroots level and resistance to forces intent on dividing us, this follows the singles ‘Next World’, ‘Twisted Cord’ and the latest, ‘Brothers At The Wheel’. The focus track for the album release is ‘Truth’.
Formed in 2007 and led by Damien Mahoney, Caulbearers are known for blending diverse musical styles, including soul, funk, hip-hop, indie pop, dub, nu jazz and folk influences. With contributors hailing from around the UK and Europe, their DIY ethic has coursed through every element of their releases, from design, production, videos and gigs to the recording process itself.
Caulbearers’ core players — Dan Mitchell on bass, Stefan Skrimshire on cello, guitarist Anton Hunter (J. Chambers, Sloth Racket, Beats & Pieces Big Band), percussionist Gavin Mullan, and Will Lenton on sax and keys — are joined by Somerset ethereal folk artist Ruth Blake on all songs but one, where Bengali-heritage singer Sarah Sayeed guests.
The album title explores the notion of what home is. What can we come back to: is ‘home’ land, family, roots and heritage? The sum of our experiences and connections we make? Or the identities we claim, whether of sexuality, gender, politics or belief? Are they part of us, or masks that give a sense of belonging, purpose and identity? Can we feel at home in the world and within ourselves without them?
These are questions with weight at a time when identity, nationality and race are weaponised to tell people they don’t belong, and when others have long been forced from their homes by colonialism, war and climate change. Caulbearers mastermind Damien Mahoney explains, “I don’t have a fixed idea of what that home is to be coming back to. It feels cyclical for me: I’m drawn to, and cling to, different aspects of it at different times.”
From the chorus of angelic voices that heralds the opening of ‘Harpses’ to the celebratory funk of closing track ‘Once Inseparable’, ‘Come Back Home’ journeys into the underworld of the human psyche, exploring the tensions between self, soul and society. Along the way, it moves through themes of inner turmoil, protest, colonialism, initiation and spirituality, before surfacing in the gratitude and resilience of ‘Burst Through The Borders’, finally finding solace, deeper connection and a sense of “home” as the album closes.
Alongside its inward journey, the album turns its anger on the steeply hierarchical society of the UK and elsewhere: a system so woven into the fabric of daily life that it has become almost invisible, and so escapes the scorn it deserves while easier targets take the blame.
With Caulbearers forged in the musical-cultural melting pot of Manchester, ‘Come Back Home’ draws from that rich heritage but with global influences and inspirations. The band themselves emerged in the city’s Hulme area as part of the Single Cell Collective, where art and music met activism. Mahoney draws on his experience of growing up and living in northern towns and cities in the UK as much as on the wisdom traditions and music of other cultures.
The chorus of ‘Truth’ was inspired by the rhythm and pattern of chants by Tibetan monks, who invited Mahoney to record them at prayer in the refugee settlement of Bylakuppe, South India. The vocal and cello melody in ‘Paths’ was influenced by a devotional mantra heard once on India’s east coast while Mahoney was recovering in hospital from illness; beneath it, a bassline crosses techno riffs with Gnawa trance. ‘Small Space’ explodes into Cuban horns and an increasingly frenzied sax as the song crescendos.
“The songs are rarely stories specifically, but more like moods, deep emotional states or parallel worlds that we enter into, where scenarios, perspectives and protagonists can shift and morph with a dream-like quality,” says Damien Mahoney. “Out of states of difficulty and uncertainty sometimes come the more positive songs. The words can be the healing themselves, a reminder that transformation and renewal are possible.”
Mixed by Seadna McPhail (Badly Drawn Boy, Jah Wobble, Everything Everything, I Am Kloot, Happy Mondays), this album was recorded by Mahoney and Chris Hamilton at Toast Recordings and Seadna McPhail at Airtight Studio, and mastered by Jim Spencer (New Order, Johnny Marr, Charlatans, Factory Floor) at Eve Mastering.
Rooted in rhythm and groove, alongside dub basslines, epic strings, horns and harmonies, Caulbearers enlisted some heavyweight drummers to lock the album’s beats down including Rob Turner (Go Go Penguin, Elf Traps), Howard Jacobs (Beth Gibbons, Homelife) and mainstay Grenville Harrop (Cherry Ghost).
‘Come Back Home’ involves 24 contributing artists, including acclaimed Manchester pianist John Ellis (The Cinematic Orchestra, Stone Roses’ John Squire, Corinne Bailey Rae, Lily Allen), bassist Alex Berry (The Earlies, King Creosote, Daniel Johnston, Thea Gilmore), renowned violinist Olivia Moore (Jason Singh, Stuart McCallum, Suns of Arqa). Copenhagen violinist Anne Eltard, Welsh composer & trombonist Owain Gruffudd Roberts, flautist Peter Digby-Lee and polyrhythmic pianist Edward Chilvers also feature.
On October 30th, ‘Come Back Home’ is available everywhere, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp.
TRACK LIST
01 . Harpses
02 . Truth
03 . Next World
04 . Over Comes A Cloud
05 . Paths
06 . Twisted Cord
07 . Small Space
08 . Brothers At The Wheel
09 . Burst Through The Borders
10 . Once Inseparable