Music: Caravan Of Thieves: Bouquet

Our Take

Caravan Of Thieves may easily be one of the most interesting bands I’ve listened to in the past couple of months. This Connecticut based group mixes elements of gypsy swing, vaudeville, and folk in their music along with some very fun and eccentric lyrical content. On their new debut album Bouquet, the group showcases their strange sense of humor along with some very strong melodies and wonderful singing. Music of this type may be outside of the style of what some of you usually listen to, but if you’re open to something new then you will find that Caravan Of Thieves is well worth checking out.

It is almost immediately apparent when Bouquet begins that the two vocalists of Caravan Of Thieves are great story tellers. Each song tells an entirely different tale and they are often very unique and interesting stories that use plenty of colorful imagery to get their points across. This album also feels very lighthearted throughout, and is very easy to get into due to the fact that the vocalists sound as though they are having fun singing the material offered this disc. Both the male and female singers have melodic, entrancing voices and listeners are sure to appreciate the sense of whimsicalness that they add to Bouquet.

As previously mentioned, the instrumentals are completely acoustic but pull from a variety of different styles. The best way to describe Caravan Of Thieves primary instrumental style is as a mixture of Eastern European gypsy swing with American vaudeville and folk music. This probably sounds like a very interesting and intriguing mixture of styles, and it really is as although the instrumentals on Bouquet are often acoustic and relatively soft they still have an astounding amount of energy to them. Admittedly, as with music of this type that is driven by the vocalists listeners won’t likely be able to remember exact instrumental arrangements offhand, but they will find that the instrumentals enhance what the singers are doing on each song.

Bouquet is a very unique album that listeners should really check out, as although it has some familiar elements it really sounds nothing like its inspirations. Caravan Of Thieves has really done something all too rare in today’s music world: it has taken some very familiar and older styles and added their own unique quirks and styles to them in order to create something that sounds truly original. I definitely see Caravan Of Thieves being on many people’s end of the year lists, so definitely don’t miss out on this group.

http://www.caravanofthieves.cm

Chris Dahlberg
March 26, 2009