If you’re an indie-rock fan with a taste for emo, then the words “Philadelphia band produced by Will Yip” should get your attention. Philly has become a bastion for indie and underground rock this decade thanks to the likes of Yip, a prolific engineer whose studio guidance has helped many of this generation’s best posthardcore bands take flight. In March, Philly four-piece Caracara released the EP Better, which Yip not only produced but also released on his Memory Music label. In a just world it would’ve racked up millions of streams in the six months since, just as several other Yip productions already have (Title Fight’s “Head in the Ceiling Fan” has topped five million plays, and Turnover’s “Super Natural” is closing in on 17 million), but Better’s bittersweet epic of a title track still hasn’t hit 100,000. Earlier this year, front man William Lindsay talked to Stereogum about several bands that inspired him to make Caracara’s music feel like a grand triumphant trek through a valley of shadows—Pianos Become the Teeth, Brutus, Caspian, and Deafheaven. Those influences come out in Caracara’s soaring guitars and huge melodies (though they prefer a flawlessly clean sound over murk or distortion) and in Lindsay’s agonized vocals, which lend the music just enough grit to hint at deep wells of anxiety, frustration, and hope. Better is this year’s scene sleeper—Caracara are on the right path, and with any luck, more people will notice soon. v
Philadelphia emo outfit Caracara deserve an audience as expansive as their epic songs
