Cavetown performing during the Summer Tour 2024 at the Moody Amphitheater Waterloo Park in Austin, Texas on June 23, 2024. (Photo: Ralph Arvesen)
With a DIY ethos and a vivid imagination, 25-year-old singer-songwriter and producer Cavetown creates songs that delve into the deepest, unspoken parts of his heart. Since releasing his first self-produced tracks at 14, the Cambridge-based musician, also known as Robin Skinner, has become a leading figure in his generation’s bedroom pop scene, attracting a global audience of fellow outsiders who connect with his lyrics about identity and belonging. “I’ve always used my music to talk about the things that I’m struggling with,” Cavetown says. “It was always a therapeutic process for me.” Following the success of his second major-label album, 2022’s "Worm Food," he is now preparing to release his new EP, "little vice," on February 23 via Sire Records.
"little vice" features a collection of genre-blending songs that delve into introspection and fantasy, resulting in Cavetown's most mature work to date. The phrase “little vice” can mean anything from an innocent treat to a more sinister addiction, and Cavetown explores the spectrum of emotions that come with navigating relationships and personal growth while coming of age. “A ‘little vice’ can be a comfort as well as a restraint,” he explains. “Everything is good in moderation, but bad when it gets too far. I feel like everything in the past year has felt like a precarious balance of that principle.”
In "little vice," Cavetown enhances his sound with vivid detail, creating tracks that seem to exist in their own colorful universe of distilled emotion. He meticulously crafted the EP in his home studio using a new mixing process he developed while producing Addison Grace’s 2023 debut album, "Diving Lessons." Since his early rise, Cavetown has become a sought-after collaborator among his indie-pop peers, including Beabadoobee, mxmtoon, Tessa Violet, and Chloe Moriondo. This collaborative work inspired fresh ideas that made "little vice" more dynamic and immersive. “I’m dialing in all the different sounds, pushing them forward and back to create space for each element at different moments,” he says. “I’m able to appreciate each section of the music better because they have their own place in the song.”
On "little vice," Cavetown expands his acoustic indie-pop sound with edgier and more electronic elements, symbolizing the discomfort of becoming more vulnerable after a lifetime of not knowing how. This inner turmoil is embodied in the hyperpop-inspired “alone.” “That song is like a back-and-forth conversation with myself, like, ‘Haven’t you always loved being alone?’” he says. “Then I realize that’s not actually what I needed as a person.” As twinkling nylon guitar plucks swell in the background, they suggest a magical internal transformation taking place.
Throughout the project, Cavetown seeks to find light amid the darkness. On “let them know they’re on your mind,” his voice remains tender and hopeful, even as brooding emo guitar licks transition into an explosion of glitch-pop synths and heavy rock riffs. “Let me see you cry, let me see your insides,” he intones. “When you love somebody, you’re fascinated by every part of them, no matter how ugly they might think it is,” he says. Even the sparse electronica track “back of the moon,” created for the forthcoming video game "Way to the Woods," is about “finding beauty in unknown and scary places—like the back of the moon.”
Even when exploring somber topics, Cavetown brings a layer of levity. For instance, in “obvious,” a lo-fi electronic-pop track, he delves into the “conflicting feelings of wanting to be both remembered and forgotten.” “Haven’t been myself, is it obvious? / Tie the knot, pull the plug,” he sings about his own mortality, doubled by a pitched-up version of his voice that could be a guardian angel or a tempting devil. “I like the feeling of changing your voice to sound like a child or even like a robot or an alien,” he says. “I wanted to lean into the cuteness of the little baby voices, which helps balance the heavy lyrics.”
This sense of innocent, childlike wonder has guided Cavetown since he taught himself how to produce and began uploading his self-made works on Bandcamp as a young teenager. “Making music gave me the same feeling as when I would write a story or doodle,” he reflects. Inspired by his love for storybook tales and fantasy, his songs gradually attracted a devoted online audience, leading to sold-out shows across the U.S. and U.K. following his 2018 album "Lemon Boy." Shortly after its release, he signed with Sire Records and performed with a full live band at festivals like Reading and Leeds, Lollapalooza, and Primavera Sound.
Despite his success, Cavetown remains committed to maintaining a close connection with his listeners. In 2022, he created the This Is Home Project (named after a fan-favorite 2015 single), which funds foundations dedicated to LGBTQ+ youth in need. This initiative aims to “continue to nurture my community and help my audience feel that I still see them,” he explains. “I’ve always wanted my music to be a place of hope for people, but that’s not enough all the time. Sometimes people need money or resources or community.”
This mutual relationship with his audience motivates Cavetown to keep sharing his honest feelings through his songs. “From what I’ve been told, something about me and my music helps them feel understood and not alone in who they are,” he says. “I don’t think a lot of them realize that the fact that they’ve said that to me has the exact same effect on me. I see myself in a lot of these people.”
Fan reviews:Setlist for the show at the Moody Amphitheater Waterloo Park
Best Concert I've seen! I have been to many shows, but this one was special. I sobbed for two hours straight because of the pure joy I experienced during the show.
Good times! I took my 13 year old to this show for her first ever concert, not knowing much about the acts. What a fun show! The bands and the crowd were honestly so sweet and fun, while still rocking pretty hard. It was just so refreshing to see people being themselves and having a great time. Oh also the music was great!
Amazing, I cried! I had an absolute blast, I never realized how excited I was for Cavetown until Robbie got on stage, started singing his first song, and I just kind of broke down. My legs were shaking and tears were rolling down my face.
Love the concert. My daughter is fan of Cavetown so this concert was a birthday gift for her, we really love it all the songs, decorations of the stage, and of course the attitude of Cavetown.
- let them know they’re on your mind
- 1994
- heart attack
- Sweet Tooth
- worm food
- fall in love with a girl
- Pigeon
- Lemon Boy
- obvious
- alone
- Frog
- Juliet
- Guilty
- Home
- Boys Will Be Bugs
- 888
- Devil Town
Cavetown was the main act at the Moody Amphitheater Waterloo Park with guests Mother Mother and Meet Me @ The Altar. They continue across the United States, South America, Australia, Asia, and Canada with the last stop at the Molson Canadian Centre in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada on March 5, 2025.
Cavetown
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Photos by Ralph Arvesen
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