Caroline: "Where's My Love"

For a month now I've tried to get this review right, to describe why this song is so good without resorting to "because it's so cute." And I can't dwell on that because it'd be underselling the single (her first) --- cheapening a promising new artist as just another "girly singer-songwriter," which is really an awful thing to cast a songwriter off as, no matter the gender. So I set out to exclude the word "cute" altogether, bouncing around the word like Lenny dodging the letter "E." But then I remember that she's Japanese and hear that melody; I don't stand a chance.

So far, we've figured out that Caroline is female (!) and Japanese and "cute," but the song's more than just her charming whisper; "Where's My Love" is minimalist electronic with touches of glitch --- think a lighter version of that Rachel Haden song from Dntel's Life is Full of Possibilities ("Why I'm So Unhappy") or New Buffalo's "It'll Be Alright" remixed by Múm. Except for the long, underwhelming bridge, the whole breeze of a tune is structured like traditional folk: short, simple verses with a constant refrain (five words, two bars), gently repeating the point instead of using it to build to a monumental/dramatic/needless payoff.

"Where's My Love's" melody isn't going to bowl you over --- it's probably not going to do much to you, actually, besides make four minutes of your life more pleasant --- but it's very nice, warmly produced and arranged with piano, lots of wintery instrumentation (chimes!) and mimicking bom bom bom background vocals. And when Caroline wonders exactly where her love is, shyly exuding the scale-climbing chorus of "oh love, love, love / come to me," you'll want to fawn "aww --- that's fucking cute," but realize still that it's more than just that. Hopefully.

You know what, just listen to the damn thing. It's good.