Caraluna is the multilingual indie world-folk project led by BC-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jesse Edward Thom. The project blends trumpet, violin, accordion, piano, bass, and percussion with English, Spanish, and French songwriting, creating a sound shaped by Thom’s Celtic, French, and Ashkenazi roots alongside years of travel and musical immersion in Latin America and Spain. These extended periods abroad deeply influenced his rhythmic sensibilities, melodic phrasing, and connection to the Spanish language, which now forms a natural part of Caraluna’s songwriting voice.

Caraluna’s music balances poetic folk storytelling with the warmth and momentum of European brass traditions, echoing the spirit of street music, migration, and shared experience. Thom’s earlier solo record, Snowdragons, was named one of Folk Radio UK’s top ten albums of the year, and Caraluna expands on that foundation with a fuller, more vibrant instrumental palette. The songs trace themes of travel, ancestry, cross-cultural belonging, and the search for beauty in movement and change.

Onstage, Caraluna shifts easily between intimate, voice-and-guitar moments and energetic, ensemble-driven passages that draw audiences into a multi-layered folk world. In 2025 the band performed at seven BC festivals and two sold-out headline shows, highlighting a year of rapid growth and crystallizing the material for an upcoming 12-song concept album. Caraluna’s evolving sound reflects a life lived between places and cultures, weaving together the landscapes and musical lineages that have shaped Thom’s artistic path.