EP Review: Caviar Capital // The Cookie Jar Complot
With their various musical experiences and influences, Luxembourg-based duo Sven Schmeler and Gilles Glesener founded The Cookie Jar Complot. Noted as being formed during 2020, the multi-instrumentalists embraced their combined creativity and poured forth instrumental awesomeness for the masses. When I think of instrumental music, I tend to think about folk artists – I’m not sure why I just do. The Cookie Jar Complot breaks out of my typical stance showing me and global audiences what instrumental indie music can sound like. The latest addition to their genre-breaking discography is their debut EP Caviar Capital.
Featured in notable press like CLUNK Magazine, Thoughts Words Actions, YMX, The Other Side Reviews and It’s All Indie, The Cookie Jar Complot has started turning heads on an international level. If you aren’t a fan of music without lyrics, then you might consider turning away; however, I beg you not to because Caviar Capital is something no one should miss. From tinges of funk-rock in the opening ‘NEO’ to the indie-rock meets ‘sweet dreams’ and the contemporary alternative rock ‘Tides’, The Cookie Jar Complot has tons to offer in their debut EP.
What I find intriguing about Caviar Capital is not the sophisticated arrangements in each track but the incorporation of different eras and genres. ‘NEO’ opens softly with smooth guitars reminiscent of the 70s and 80s funk sounds, yet it progresses to something harder with crescendos to pounding drums and heavier guitar contributions. Gilles Glesener and Sven Schmeler retain this genre-bending sound with the following ‘TFO’. Far more eclectic in its arrangement, there is a darkness and obscurity with dynamic guitar riffs featured throughout.
I’m unsure if you could call this EP an upbeat one as the instrumentation inspires feelings of melancholy, desperation, turmoil and isolation. The haunted elements in ‘sweet dreams’ and ‘Tides’ certainly bring up the tumultuous waves in a sonic ocean; however, the layers also exude feelings of hopefulness, empowerment and optimistic sentimentality. It’s interesting how melodies are often more expressive than words and The Cookie Jar Complot hits this nail on the head.
Finishing off with ‘sweet dreams’ and ‘Tides’, the duo brings contemporary rock music to the fore. This contemporary edginess makes The Cookie Jar Complot an old-school band but suited to modern-day audiences. Made for lovers of rock music who want their heads turned in different directions, Caviar Capital is a musical masterpiece.