Cavetown

Cavetown serves as the creative outlet for Cambridge-based musician Robin Skinner, whose intimate and finely detailed approach to indie pop has defined his output. As a teenager during the mid-2010s, Skinner gained initial traction through his Cavetown video channel, posting ukulele renditions of well-known tracks alongside original compositions. By 2018 he had cultivated a following as a self-reliant singer/songwriter, supported by multiple self-released albums highlighted by the breakthrough Lemon Boy. Following his Warner/Sire signing, the 2020 full-length Sleepyhead entered the Top 20 of Billboard’s Americana/folk albums chart, with Worm Food arriving in 2022. Skinner then concentrated on individual tracks before issuing the subsequent EP Little Vice.

Oxford-born into a musical household, Skinner relocated to Cambridge at age eight after his father assumed a fellowship and the role of Director of Music at Cambridge University. His own abilities surfaced early, prompting him to begin composing and tracking material in a bedroom studio by 2013. The Cavetown channel launched in 2014, and Bandcamp releases of singles and albums followed in 2015. Viral momentum from the “This Is Home” single that year led to Cavetown’s self-titled debut album later in 2015. Blending melodic bedroom pop that spanned gentle ukulele ballads and lo-fi indie rock, he delivered the second album 16/04/16 in 2016. While continuing to record studio material and sustain his online presence, Skinner achieved wider notice with the more expansive and idiosyncratic 2018 set Lemon Boy. He quickly issued the “Animal Kingdom” series, rolling out five split singles—“Sandy,” “Comet,” “Ash,” “Shells,” and “Jackson”—through 2019 before compiling them as a mixtape. The 2020 track “Sweet Tooth” appeared on Sleepyhead, which reached the Billboard Americana/Folk Albums Top 20. A second EP, Man’s Best Friend, surfaced in June 2021. Early 2022 brought the companion singles “squares” and “y 13,” along with the romantic Beabadoobee collaboration “Fall in Love with a Girl.” Fronted by the indie single “1994,” Worm Food arrived in November 2022, peaking at number 39 on the U.K. pop chart and number 16 on Billboard’s Heatseekers. Standalone 2023 releases included the Field Medic collaboration “Glacier Meadow,” after which the low-key EP Little Vice emerged in early 2024.