Caiola’s “This Could Be Everything”: an exploration of graveyards, growth, and grief
Jordan Caiola, frontman of Philadelphia-based indie group Mo Lowda & The Humble and his well-established solo act Caiola, has written a lot of bad songs. You just probably haven’t heard them.
“I have a graveyard of songs,” Jordan said. “And that’s okay, some of those just aren’t meant to be.”
The first Mo Lowda album, Curse the Weather, was ten songs, and there was no luxury of exploring past grave sites for new energies to harvest. But Jordan’s sophomore record, This Could Be Everything is a 12-song release that is more than just a numerical increase. It harmonizes elements of the songwriter’s past, present, and future in a deeply sentimental way.
“Now we do it so differently,” Jordan said. “And for my solo work, especially [This Could Be Everything], I went back to songs that at the time weren’t quite there. I went back to them and after fleshing out the blueprints, I had another record.”
Differentiating which work becomes that of Mo Lowda and which work is Caiola, Jordan first establishes what forces are going to drive the song. When a track evolves with an emphasis on the acoustic elements and more personal songwriting, he delegates it to the solo realm.
“Once I lean one way or another with the instrumentation, the lyrical direction takes a different path,” Jordan said. “The solo stuff is definitely a little more personal and vulnerable, and the focus is on storytelling. It’s not that the Mo Lowda work isn’t vulnerable or genuine, but they’re just different. The solo stuff just purely represents me, and when I know that I’m able to tap into something different.”
That great big “v” word. It makes heads turn and stomachs flip. Though many people cringe at the concept of being vulnerable, it feels natural to Jordan when it happens through his work.
“As a kid, I learned two chords on guitar and was already writing a song over it,” Jordan said. “Couldn’t possibly have a bridge with only two chords, but I wanted to write something. As I learned more and more — I mean I’ve been writing since high school — I saw I was wasn’t very concerned with getting really good at shredding… or being a really technical singer. I wanted to make songs that connected. I had a lot to say.”
Jordan writes to this kid in “Buzzcut Kid,” one of the leading tracks of This Could Be Everything. And he didn’t do it alone.
Collaborating with the frontman of one of the bands he most looked up to during his college years, Kyle Henderson of Desert Noises, Jordan embarked on a semi-unusual writing process. After Mo Lowda opened for Desert Noises at a show in Philly circa 2011, Jordan and Henderson struck up a friendship that has since flourished.
Written over Zoom, the two songwriters had different ideas for how “Buzzcut Kid” would play out. What Jordan initially thought he wanted — a stripped back, sentimental track was tinkered with by Henderson.
“He sent me back the track with bass and drums,” Jordan said. “I said ‘I don’t hear this at all. I think it sounds cool, but I had other ideas. Let me sit with it.’ I sat with it for a while and then I knew it was my favorite fucking song.”
“Buzzcut Kid” was almost sent to the cemetery, but as Jordan’s work has continued to reveal to him over the past few years: sometimes all that’s needed is a little time.
“It’s funny how a tuning and a guitar tone can really get you in the right direction,” Jordan said. “I had found my college ID a few days prior, and I wrote down the title in my phone. I wanted to write around that idea, and that’s just what we did.”
“Buzzcut Kid” grapples with themes of getting older and choosing between what you take from the past and what should stay in dusty shoeboxes. Our desire for movement and change is what propels us forward in life, and Jordan toys with the concept of grieving his younger self.
“I dwell on the words I’d tell that kid / He got further than some folks did / But I’d tell him get used to being alone / When your whole life gets to feeling like the timing’s wrong.”
Perhaps the opposite of a quarter life crisis where people buy cars or commit to drastic body modifications, Jordan ends “Buzzcut Kid” with a quiet laying down of arms.
“Even in the dark times everything grows / And inside - a battle like a raging fire / Holding to a past life I need to let go / I need to let go.”
My favorite track on the album is “Fuji Harvest.” The track is as pure a love song as you could ask for — a declaration of commitment from a working partner back to their lover. It’s so simple, so sincere, and so profound. In an age in which narcissism is not only celebrated but demanded, the notion of sacrificial love in songs like “Fuji Harvest” glimmers brighter than ever.
“Darling, I would work for you / Long as you want me to / Long as I have your word you’ll be there waiting / Smiling the way you always do / Oh I could count every tooth / I'd slave my life away for you.”
On a drive out west for a tour, Jordan was moved by the history of Interstate 84 which follows the Columbia River and the historic Oregon Trail in northeastern Oregon.
“I was looking out the window at the terrain and thinking about the lengths people went through and still go through to provide,” Jordan said. “And on foot! So to be in a van traversing these insane mountain passes and driving over a bridge that those people certainly didn’t have… I was trying to put myself in the position of fighting tooth and nail to provide for the people I love.”
The people of the past certainly didn’t have the transportation services we do now, but Jordan’s writing reminds listeners of how love continues to reign supreme in the face of hardship.
Yet again, Jordan complete’s the song’s sentiment with eyes set on the future, “And one day, when I return home / Worth more than my weight in gold / We’ll live like we always wanted to.”
Other standout tracks include “Hotel Toothbrush,” “Warning Streets,” and “Year of the Cicadas,” all hauntingly marked by personal details, but not bound to them. Jordan weaves personal narratives with universal truths deftly, crafting each track intentionally.
“I’ve been writing for so long,” Caiola said. “I’ve written so many bad songs but you have to get through that. That’s the process– the whole purpose of it. There have been many times I’ve felt fortunate that I didn't put songs out because I now get to go back and revisit them… I’m like oh, I just had it packaged the wrong way.”
This Could Be Everything certainly seems like it contains everything. An uninterrupted, start-to-finish listening experience will leave you feeling like you’ve just had a solid home-cooked meal with a glass of heartbreak. From crisp production to touching backstories to an expert display of heartfelt songwriting, it’s hard to believe that anything Jordan writes could be buried. Luckily, this album had the dirt cleaned off for us.
Until next time,
Rocka out
All things Caiola here + Instagram. Catch Jordan on tour this fall!