Caroline Rose announces The Art of Forgetting, their new album out March 24th on New West Records, and presents a new single/video, “Miami.” Rose is an artist known for their wit and satirical storytelling, but for the first time, with The Art of Forgetting, Rose’s music teems with raw, intense emotion. With no guard up this time, they present the type of confessional honesty we’ve only previously caught glimpses of in their work. Of course, Rose’s impish humor does pop up unexpectedly amidst themes of regret and grief, loss and change, shame and the inevitability of pain.
After a series of heartbreaking events, Rose had no desire to make a statement, let alone make a new album. It was a time of contemplation and transformation. What transpired was what Rose considers a gradual union of reconnection and growth. Prompted by a difficult breakup, Rose began a deep-dive inward, unknowingly digging up long-buried childhood experiences. All the while, Rose was getting voicemails from their grandmother “who was clearly losing her mind.” These respective moments are pieced throughout the album, offering moments of lightness amidst an otherwise heart-rending story of a person who has forgotten, and is perhaps re-learning, how to love themselves. “It got me thinking about all the different ways memory shows up throughout our lives,” says Rose. “It can feel like a curse or be wielded as a tool.”
With this in mind, Rose produced the album using devices and media that embody the characteristics of fading or faulty memories. They gravitated towards instruments that naturally changed or decayed over time: wooden and string instruments, voices, tape, and granular synthesis. They began recording basic layers in their home studio, and “from there it was about a year of experimenting with those recordings both at home and in a couple other studios–chopping them up into loops and smears, creating modular percussion, and ultimately building any additional parts around them,” says Rose. Layers of vocal arrangements from Balkan-influenced yawps to Gregorian autotune choirs, acoustic instrumentation chopped and mangled like a glitching memory, and dreamlike synths push and pull to create a hugely dynamic soundscape.
Today’s “Miami” is an acoustic-centered track whose chorus of squealing guitars and bombastic drums seems to all but burst out of the speakers. Rose explains: “I’m not one to shy away from drama, and so this was a perfect opportunity to really bring out every ounce of desperation and anger and all those confusing emotions that happen after a big heartbreak.” Rose sings:
Clean up all the memories
Sweep the bad under the rug
Put the good inside a coffer
I wish I knew anything
‘Cuz even at my best
I don’t know why I even bother
This is the hard part
The part that they don’t tell you about
There is the art of loving
This is the art of forgetting how
The “Miami” video, starring Rose playing a version of themself alongside Massima Bell, was directed by Sam Bennett, and shot at the Austin Motel, Sagebrush, and a sound stage in Austin, and continues Rose’s run of theatrical, storyline driven videos. “For the ‘Miami’ video, I was mainly focused on what would be the most effective way to move people in regards to the two characters and how they interact,” says Rose. “Because this is a sort of loose recreation of some things in my life it was important to me to interpret the feeling of that time as accurately as we could within four minutes’ time. Sam, who is a dear friend of mine and brilliant director, thought a great way to capture that fever-dream-like quality was to create a lot of movement with a continuous shot. He showed me different lenses and cameras to use and we ultimately went with an anamorphic, Old Hollywood-esque feel, which gives it that nostalgia thinking back on a time past.”
Watch Caroline Rose’s Video for “Miami”
“Every time I make an album I’ll come out of it learning a lot about myself,” comments Rose. “Now I look back and see the healing of a wound. I feel like a new version of myself. I think one for the better.”
This spring, Caroline Rose will bring their energetic live show across North America and the UK/EU. Newly-announced dates are on sale Friday at 10am local time and a full list of dates can be found below.
Listen to “Love / Lover / Friend”
Pre-order The Art of Forgetting
The Art of Forgetting Tracklist
1. Love / Lover / Friend
2. Rebirth
3. Miami
4. Better Than Gold
5. Everywhere I Go I Bring the Rain
6. The Doldrums
7. The Kiss
8. Cornbread
9. Stockholm Syndrome
10. Tell Me What You Want
11. Florida Room
12. Love Song For Myself
13. Jill Says
14. Where Do I Go From Here?
Caroline Rose Tour Dates:
(new dates in bold)
Fri. March 31 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Arthur Zankel Music Center
Sat. April 1 – Montreal, QC @ Petit Campus
Tue. April 4 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
Wed. April 5 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
Thu. April 6 – Boston, MA @ Royale
Sat. April 8 – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
Sun. April 9 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre
Tue. April 11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Wed. April 12 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Fri. April 14 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
Sat. April 15 – Richmond, VA @ Richmond Music Hall
Sun. April 16 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
Tue. April 18 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
Wed. April 19 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl
Fri. April 21 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Sat. April 22 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom
Sun. April 23 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
Tue. April 25 – Denver, CO @ The Gothic Theatre
Fri. April 28 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
Sat. April 29 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
Wed. May 3 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
Fri. May 5 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
Sat. May 6 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriet’s
Wed. May 31 – Manchester, UK @ BOTW
Thu. June 1 – Dublin, IE @ Whelan’s
Sat. June 3 – Glasgow, UK @ Stereo
Sun. June 4 – Bristol, UK @ Exchange
Mon. June 5 – London, UK @ Heaven
Keep your mind open.
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[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]