Electric Caroline has released their debut album this summer, The Sky Falls Down On Me. It was great to learn more about the mostly solo project from Shaun Doniger. It’s amazing to hear the full sound and emotive lyrics come from one person, with some help.
Please tell us about Electric Caroline and your music.
As of right now, Electric Caroline is a solo recording project of mine. I had a group of guys I played in bands with years ago and the original plan was for us to get together virtually and record some of our songs we never got to commit to tape before we scattered across the country. Of course everyone is busy with careers, family, and even other musical endeavors, so getting any momentum going was really difficult. Eventually, I just started tracking my songs myself just to get something started — some that the band used to do, but also some new things I was working on as well — and just kept building them up from there. For the longest time, I still hoped to have the other guys participate, but as time wore on I felt an urgency to get the album finished because in all the different bands I’ve been in over the years, there is precious little recorded evidence of any of the music I’ve made.
Luckily, I was able to get one of the guys (who through pure happenstance lives out here in MN near me, despite all of us being from Southern California originally) to lay down some piano parts for a few of the tracks. Otherwise, all of the instruments and vocals were done by me — and certainly not because I was the best one for the job! It just became kind of a Little Red Hen situation where I’d think, “well, if these guys aren’t able to do it, I guess I’ll do it myself!” (If you don’t have kids, you might have to Google that reference!) And that’s definitely not to imply that anyone was a flake — besides living in three different states, we all have a lot of responsibilities that take precedence over rock n’ roll — but there was also a part of me that really wanted to see if I even could pull off producing an entire album on my own. And I guess it turns out the answer was “yes.”
A Song You’ll Never Forget is such an uplifting song – perfect for a Monday morning wake up, although with a definite edge. What was the writing process? Did it come to you or was it an intentional topic?
That’s funny — I’ve never intentionally written an uplifting piece of music in my life! They usually come out sardonic at best, or morose at worst. But yeah, this one does have some energy and momentum, and lyrically it’s kinda sweet, which is a bit uncharacteristic for me. But even then, the song itself is basically about the inability to write a love song, and the singer hopes that the listener will “settle for this instead.” I’ve always felt too weird about writing anything overly direct, so this was my sideways approach — sort of like hiding the pill in the dog food, ya know? Or to paraphrase Tenacious D, “This is not a love song — this is a tribute.”
Tears in the Courthouse also has an upbeat sound but the lyrics have an even more mysterious edge. The lyrics aren’t ambiguous but they seem to foreshadow a much deeper story. What was the inspiration for the song?
Well, the basic seed of inspiration for the song, which as you say is probably pretty easy to parse, was about a friend who got married too young, and too quickly, and in a less than romantic setting. Although I should say that I’ve since attended an actual courthouse wedding after I originally wrote the song — one right in downtown Saint Paul, which was actually quite lovely, in fact. At the time, though, I had imagined the experience was like a visit to the DMV or some dreary government building that hasn’t been updated since the 60s — and maybe it is, in some cases, I don’t know, but for the purpose of the song it’s not necessarily a happy occasion either way.
More than that though, the song is really about losing that friend after the fact, and their sort of giving up on youthful adventures and hanging out with friends and such. I think a lot of people probably have known someone like that, who once they got into a relationship just kind of ghost on their friends — and it’s not always because they’re so busy being happily in love, either. The lyrics are probably a lot more cynical than the truth of the situation or even my actual feelings at the time, but I’ve never approached music as journalism; once I hit on the phrase “tears in the courthouse,” I knew that was a good title to build the story in the song around, and it was obviously going to inform the attitude of the singer as well.
This is your debut album. It sounds great. Similar to the Tears in the Courthouse, the album itself seems to have the arc of a story behind it. The songs are compelling and I don’t want to lift the veil too much so I’ll just ask. Why this album and why now?
Well, as I mentioned earlier, I’ve played in many different bands over a span of years, and for one reason or another there just isn’t a whole lot of recorded evidence left behind. I started my first garage band when I was 14, and I’m 44 now, so yeah…I definitely felt like I was overdue for something besides a partially finished demo, or crappy one-mic recording made in some club or rehearsal space. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be on an album — like, a real record, something I could hold in my hands. Even if it was with a band where none of the songs were mine, I’ve just always wanted to be involved with some kind of finished musical project. It took me a long time — not only all those years spent making music, but this album took me about 16 months to make from start to finish — but I finally did it. And there’s a small batch of vinyl currently in production that’ll be ready sometime around late September or early October, so the dream is finally coming true!
If there’s an overall theme to the album, I guess it probably developed naturally. I will say that many of the songs are lyrically a lot more earnest than I’ve previously attempted, although it’s more accurate to say I’ve avoided doing so in the past, if anything. For the most part, I just go where the song wants to go — generally I’ll have the music and basic structure in place first, and then while I’m mapping out the melody and how many beats per line and such, a word or a phrase will just kind of appear. From there, I’ll just write in that general direction and fill in the story or theme based on that initial kernel; it’s kinda like following a trail of breadcrumbs, and hopefully at the end of it I’ll find a decent song.
Where can folks find you? Do you have any upcoming shows or a favorite social media?
It’s just me, so definitely no shows anytime soon…and I’m not really the ‘solo acoustic’ type, either. Maybe someday I’ll put a band together again…who knows? I can count the number of people I’ve met since moving to Minnesota on one hand, though, and I’m way out of practice when it comes to meeting other musicians. Do people still hang up flyers on the cork board at Guitar Center…?
There will be some vinyl and CD copies of the album coming in the fall, which will be available through Bandcamp when they arrive, as well as the ‘local’ section of a handful of record shops in the Twin Cities — however many they’re willing to take! Any other news fit to print will be posted over on Instagram (@electriccaroline). In the meantime, folks can check out the album on their favorite (or least evil) streaming app.
Mostly Minnesota 