Kicking off a five year hiatus from releasing music, Sarah Brunner has returned better than ever. Since 2016, Brunner has taken a break from releasing music as she spent her time playing over a thousand shows, finding her crowd, and getting a taste of what the people want. Her recent single, “Caravan,” featuring Tyler McGinnis, is a swooning folk-ish song of change and growing with a loved one released in anticipation of her upcoming debut album. Tyler McGinnis equally shares the spotlight as both give beautiful vocal performances on this track that feels like fall weather.
A cute, light acoustic guitar opens the piece with a delicate riff before the warm backing strings fill the space, like waking up to open windows and a light breeze on a sunny morning. After another few measures with the added strings and cymbal taps, a swinging drum beat carries into the first verse. The rhythm of the track is so comfortable and will definitely having you nodding your head by the bonfire in the backyard. Brunner’s voice is a blanket and intertwines so intimately with McGinnis’ vocals as he joins on the latter half of the verse.
After the verse, a short instrumental lead in kicks off a pounding build in with muted strums on the guitar, the bass drum landing on each note growing in intensity until it reaches the middle of the chorus. From there, each instrument expands and grows more colorful as Brunner and McGinnis remind us, “the only thing that stays the same is that we change,” in the most reassuring way. The post-chorus instrumental shows off the effort put into the string composition, as the strings take lead and outshine all other instruments in this duration. McGinnis takes vocal control on the second verse – a much heavier yet soulful demonstration of his vocal abilities – before another short instrumental lead into the chorus.
Following the chorus, an instrumental build up begins as Brunner utters softly over it, picking up the pace as the instruments become more intense before breaking into a final chorus with beautiful backing vocals and each melody swells into an elegant rush of gentleness.
I can see this song being adored by the mellow country folk scene, as it is pretty and to the point yet the strings are complex enough to stay interesting. As a feel good and lighthearted song, Brunner and McGinnis know exactly what kind of feeling they are trying to capture within the tonal walls of this song and they do so really well. I highly recommend listening to this song with a cinnamon pumpkin candle lit nearby.
