It’s been a long time since Cavetown last graced fans with a full-length album. 2020’s ‘sleepyhead’ proved to be the most successful of his career, underlining the songwriter’s global reach in the process.
In spite of his success, though, Cavetown remains a shy, self-effacing kid from the UK. Using his Cambridge studio as a base, the songwriter – real name Robin Skinner – is essentially DIY, using the same methods that propelled his first Bandcamp tapes forwards.
New album ‘worm food’ was constructed in this way, but it’s a work of gentle evolution. Reaching outwards, Cavetown is able to draw other like-minded artists into his orbit, bolstering his approach in the process.
Out now, ‘worm food’ is another accomplished project from Cavetown – as the Clash review has it, a true gift to fans.
Here, Cavetown breaks down his new album in an exclusive track by track guide.
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1. worm food
This title track is one of my favourites on the album. It’s about finding comfort in the idea that nothing we worry about in life ultimately matters that much, as someday we’ll die and become part of the earth. Even if you might not achieve what you’ve decided your life’s purpose is, everyone will eventually serve the purpose of feeding the worms and helping the grass grow. Sounds kind of morbid when I put it in words, but it feels like a peaceful realisation for me.
2. kill u
‘kill u’ is about the idea of wanting to kill off parts of yourself that are causing problems for you. Sometimes it’s easy to forget there are parts of yourself that you do value and want to nurture when the bad parts seem to take over.
3. frog
‘frog’ is a happy love song about the relationship I’m in currently. I’ve written love songs in the past, but they’ve always had some sad or uncomfortable undertones, so writing a song about a love that is really pure and happy is something new for me. When we first started dating, we were both nervous to say the words ‘boyfriend’ and ‘girlfriend’, so I basically asked her out by telling her bf and gf stand for boy frog and girl frog and asking if she wanted to be my frog.
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4. a kind thing to do
Recently I’ve found it hard to find the motivation to do nice things for myself or make the effort to take care of my needs. But occasionally when I’m feeling especially loved I’ll be able to look after myself in the way the people who love me would want. I started writing this song with Vic in San Diego, and finished it in a cafe on a day when I decided to try to be kind to myself in a way that my girlfriend would.
5. 1994
This song is mostly about inner child healing and self-compassion, and also touches on some feelings I’ve had about my family. While I’m totally fine with my parents having split up when I was younger, I don’t really remember a time when they seemed in love and a part of me is curious of what that looked like.
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6. better
‘better’ is about the struggle of feeling like how you’re perceived doesn’t reflect how you feel internally. I often feel like no one will believe I’m in a bad place unless I look physically bad, or that I don’t deserve help until everyone around me is worried.
7. wasabi
This is probably the oldest song on the album, which I wrote about a girl I’d had a huge crush on for a long time. We lived very far apart and initially both felt the same way about each other, but around the time I wrote wasabi I found out she’d managed to move on. Wasabi was kind of a goodbye song to that long long crush and while at first it was really painful to hear she didn’t like me like that anymore, it also helped me let go and move on myself.
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8. fall in love with a girl
‘fall in love with a girl’ (affectionately known as Filwag by me and my crew) is about a friend of mine who was going through a tough time in her relationship.
I had been trying to support her through it for a while, and she had been finding it hard to accept her own sexuality and that her relationship wasn’t what she really needed.
The second half of the song was written after she had managed to embrace who she was and found a girlfriend who really made her feel loved. I’m so proud of her.
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9. grey space
‘grey space’ is about looking back on a dark time in your life, feeling nostalgic for it, and convincing yourself that you were happier back then. I had a great time tracking the drums with my drummer Willoughby and playing around with some freaky distortion.
10. heart attack
I wrote this song about a particularly stressful couple of shows on tour, where I felt overwhelmed by the responsibility of keeping everyone in the crowd safe and happy.
Sometimes at especially lively shows I doubt my ability to do my job well in that respect and it can leave me feeling really out of place and unworthy of having accumulated such a large crowd.
11. juno
This is a bittersweet song for my cat Juno. I know deep down I have a lot of good reasons to keep myself safe and healthy, but I forget them a lot. The one purpose I can never forget is the responsibility I have of looking after my little cat. I love her so much and the motivation to be there for her gets me through bad days.
12. laundry day
‘laundry day’ is about tension in my family, and looking back on better times when everyone was happier and healthier. I really loved working with a string quartet on this track to bring it to life.
13. i swear to god
This is another pretty old song which I forgot about until just a few days before I submitted the album for mastering. It was another one about being overwhelmed on tour which I recorded back in 2019, and revisited this year to add some more interesting production to help it fit in on worm food.
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‘worm food’ is out now.
