In March, Caroline Rose released “The Art Of Forgetting,” their third record for New West Records.
It’s a bold and brave album that finds the artist exploring feelings of grief and loss after a difficult breakup.
Rose recently chatted with WUNC Music about the process for recording the new record and the accompanying video for the lead single "Miami.”
WUNC Music: "Can you tell us a bit about the recording process for the record? When did you start writing for it?"
Caroline Rose: "Pretty much right after my last album got its head cut off. We put out an album on March 6, 2020 and shortly after that I had a lot of free time... I was really sad, so I was playing a lot of music, just noodling around on the guitar and piano and a lot of those noodles ended up turning in to songs."
WUNC Music: "Where did you end up recording these songs?"
CR: "The first session I did was actually in North Carolina, at the studio Betty’s which is owned by Nick and Amelia from Sylvan Esso. Nick actually performs on the album. I love them both. They’re true salt of the earth people."
WUNC Music: "This album feels a bit more personal than your previous works. You touch a lot on a lot of heavy issues such as grief and loss. How does it feel to share these stories with a public audience?"
CR: "It’s still the beginning so I think it’s going to get easier, but it has been really hard. I’m not going to sugarcoat it for you, it's kind of sucked. I was really honest when I wrote the songs and I just kind of put everything into them emotionally. When I perform them, they really do take me right back to where I was when I wrote them. It’s an album of healing, and I do feel like I’ve healed with time, but it’s still really hard to be that vulnerable in front of an audience night after night. It feels a bit masochistic."
WUNC Music: "Is there a particular song from the album that feels good to perform in front of people?"
CR: "I can’t really choose, they all feel so special to me."
WUNC Music: "We’re playing ‘Miami’ on WUNC Music right now. Can you give us the back story on that song?"
CR: "I wrote 'Miami' as a relationship with a lot of firsts was disintegrating. I had dedicated a lot to the relationship, so when it ended, I didn’t realize how much resentment I’d had over these small moments. One of these moments was on a vacation we had taken to Miami. Miami is such a beautiful place, but while we were there, I was hurting so much inside from things that were happening in our relationship that made me feel small. The first half of the song deals with those emotions, and then the second half is more of a wakeup call. Sometimes you put yourself in a really dark place and just feel bad for yourself, and the best thing that can happen is having someone snap you out of it and help you realize that you’re just going through a moment and things will be fine. Things aren’t that bad.
WUNC Music: "I think those are feelings that just about anybody can relate to, so I’m sure you’re making a lot of people feel seen with that song. You also made a video for that song where you basically act out that phase of your life. How did it feel to go through those motions again?"
CR: "It almost feels like a dance to move through shooting something like that. The video features really tight choreography so it took several shots to time everything perfectly. It was really bizarre because it felt like we were fictionalizing these things that really happened."
WUNC Music: "One final question for you. What music or art has been bringing you joy lately?"
CR: "I just saw Rubblebucket perform, and I don’t know if you’ve seen them live, but they have the best live show ever. I’m so happy for them because I feel like people are finally catching on that they’re the best band in the world."
