A COMING-OF-AGE STORY AND A 1960’S PSYCHEDELIC REVIVAL.

Sunbeams and warm tones flowing from the airwaves of a 1960s Volkswagen cruising down the palm-lined sandy beaches of California; that’s what popped into my mind when I first heard the debut album from San Francisco quartet Carpool Tunnel.

It all started with Vampr - or to put it simply, Tinder for musicians - and a swift swipe right for the four musketeers: Ben Koppenjan (vocalist/guitarist), Bradley Kearsley (guitarist), Spencer Layne (bassist) and Daniel Stauffer (drummer). “The first person I really matched with was Danny, Danny matched with Ben. We were meant to be a gigging band for bars and weddings, we were just going to be a blues band. Then we got together and really liked each other, liked our styles and started making some songs,” Brad starts, before adding that they’d bought a $400 van from Craigslist and finally decided that they needed a permanent bassist to complete the ensemble. “We went on the app again and found Spencer,” he finishes.

We threw ourselves into a pretty intense situation. We definitely found each other's boundaries, it's what brought us so close together as friends.”

They found themselves breaking away from the traditional ‘we grew up together’ stereotype and instead showcased a meeting of minds at a pivotal moment in time. They packed their bags and moved into a house, where they wrote and recorded ‘Bloom’, their debut record. It was new, moving away, trying to figure themselves out: “We threw ourselves into a pretty intense situation. We definitely found each other's boundaries, it's what brought us so close together as friends.” says Bradley.

There was a feeling of excitement in the air; their debut record was on its way and you could tell they were excited about it. Who wouldn’t be? They’ve waited three and a half years for this. ‘Bloom’ is exactly what we need to hear right now. Retro hues and a psychedelic flair takes us back to better times, to summers filled with sunsets, campfires and adventure. It’s an utterly compelling listen.

“We started with the idea that this was supposed to be a coming-of-age album that really details a lot of our individual and collective gripes with becoming who we are today, learning how to take care of ourselves and becoming young adults, honing our craft and learning how to balance our lives. Along with all the emotional ups and downs of a period of life where there’s a lot of uncertainty with where you might want to go with life and all these different things encapsulated in one record. You might as well be looking into a glimpse of all our lives from ages seventeen to twenty-two,” says Spencer, giving us an in-depth, really honest, insight into what they’ve been working towards for the past few years.

“We started with the idea that this was supposed to be a coming-of-age album..."

The sense of ‘we’ve achieved the American dream’ came across when we chatted about the record. The sun was shining, spirits were high and laughs were had. San Francisco is rich with culture, a hub for creatives, free-spirits and adventurers, and Carpool Tunnel fit right into it. With their latest offering, who knows, maybe we’ll see them touring the world soon, maybe we’ll get to hear a second album; what I’m sure of though is that Bloom is their form of escapism and it’s something they’ll hold close to them for a long, long time. “I got it tattooed on me [‘Bloom’] while we were recording in the studio because it means a lot to me. It's all of our life's work put into one project. We are very very proud of it.”