Review Summary: Doopees' own Caroline and the Quest for Doopamine
Brian Wilson wrote “Caroline, No” thinking all about the innocence we have in our youth, and how its loss as we grow changes things, most often permanently. To him it’s a lamentation, the confusion from change making itself known in the form of his questions.
Where is that girl I used to know? How could you lose that happy glow? Who took that look away? The Beach Boy pines for a person who is no longer there - they’ve changed. They’re wholly different.
CUTE MUSIC is keep you healthy, mind clear.
Doopees are spearheaded by Japanese audio aficionado Yann Tomita, who I don’t really know all that much about other than his incredible steel pan playing skills. Here, he borrows from the ethos of plunderphonics, sampling all manners of things - black and white TV show theme songs, snippets of love songs, audio of a doctor talking about the importance of breast cancer screenings - you know, the usual. A healthy portion of Doopee Time also lends itself to covers of 60s tunes. The Ronettes, The Beach Boys, Garry Miles and Petula Clark all have reinterpreted tunes done in Doopee Time. These covers add to that sense of nostalgia that one often gets listening to plunderphonics. It’s the past done up in a new way, looked at from a different point of view. It reminds this listener of The Avalanches in some ways (fitting, as they sampled this record).
Life’s not only about having a good time, is it?
Doopees are Caroline (voiced by Yumiko Ohno) and Suzi Kim, a pair of vocalists that seem to be fine friends as well. However, rather quickly in this album a roadblock appears for the duo - Caroline seems to have had her heart broken, and she is certainly in her feelings by the time the fifth track rolls around. Poor Caroline plays Chopin on the piano and cries, while Suzi looks onward, commenting that Suzi is playing Chopin and crying. She then also serenades us, Jimi style, with the same segment of music on guitar.
Messing with vocals can be a tricky thing. The voice of Caroline is so childlike, so honey sweet that it could easily wear down the ears rather swiftly. But if you can make it two minutes into MY SPINNING WHEEL, you should be good. Here, adolescent Caroline ponders her sadness, pining for a pinwheel if context clues are anything to go by. She feels lost, and she seems to want nothing more than to be happy, or to love again. Most of the ideas on Doopee Time stem from Caroline’s thought process, her mind working things out with the help of Suzi, encouraging her to sing, taking her places, and giving her advice. The girls go to the doctor, they go to space, they go to Suzi’s aunts place on Saint Thomas (who used to live in China). All in the name of curing Carolines broken heart. And for such an eclectic set of events, there is an equally eclectic array of sounds to be heard.
Hey, doc? Make me feel better, like you always do.
At first glance, the most forgettable tracks on Doopee Time are DR. DOMESTIC’S PHYSICAL EFFECTS. The first one sounds like a malfunctioning record player, and the second is synth tones mixed with strings. These tracks come after a five minute lecture on cancer, in which our Doopee duo sounds rightfully perturbed and upset. Some people hear this and think it means one or both of them have breast cancer. I think these people are a bit dour. I read it pretty straight - they went to the wrong doctor. How do you diagnose heartbreak? The doc on MEDICAL SERVICE doesn’t know. But Dr. Domestic does - through the healing power of music.
When it’s not emulating a sound collage or a spoken word piece, Doopee Time might sound like surf-rock, might be a calypso instrumental, might sound like space-age pop, maybe jazzy, maybe sunny, may be melancholy, or upbeat, or downbeat, and possibly every which way Tomita’s influences could possibly take him. The influences are worn on the sleeve - one song is covered twice (and somehow they’re both effective). It all stems back to 60s pop for this project, and what Doopee Time manages to do with it is incredible.
You’ve caught on to something, haven’t you?
Doopee Time is strange. It’s got this album cover so innocuous it borders on silly. It’s called Doopee Time, for chrissake. How serious could it be? Dear reader, if you find it in your heart to take Caroline’s voice as anything other than grating, it might just strike a chord deep down. Doopee Time is about depression, love, heartbreak, friendships, and most importantly, growing up. When all is said and done, Caroline changes. She isn’t the happy-go-lucky child she was before, and she no longer wallows in her sadness. I’ve heard the relationship of Caroline and Suzi interpreted a number of ways - they’re aliens, they're sisters, they’re friends. But beyond all that, the album ends on an idea rather definitive - someone has changed, and they will never be the person from before, ever again.
Life’s not always about having fun. That’s also why it’s not really about being sad. When you're down, you've got to realize: There's a deeper kind of sadness. So, go ahead and sing!
