The Art of Forgetting, the latest album from Nashville singer/songwriter Caitlin Rose is a departure in both theme and production from their previous release. While “Superstar” paid homage to ’80s cinema and a culture obsessed with celebrities, “The Art of Forgetting” finds inspiration through Balkan cries and the natural life cycles of handcrafted instruments. Although Rose has created fictionalized characters before, here they delve deep into their vulnerabilities and pain in The “Art of Forgetting”: a memoir of healing. Caroline Rose’s portrayal of a new beginning during the first three tracks is visceral and guttural. “Tell Me What You Want,” is undoubtedly the best track on the album.
Caroline Rose releases her fantastic new album “The Art of Forgetting” on New West Records. Rose is an artist known for their wit and satirical storytelling, but for the first time, with “The Art of Forgetting”, Roseʼs music teems with raw, intense emotion. With no guard up this time, they present the type of confessional honesty weʼve only previously caught glimpses of in their work. Of course, Roseʼs impish humour does pop up unexpectedly amidst themes of regret and grief, loss and change, shame and the inevitability of pain. Aer a series of heart-breaking 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. She gravitated towards instruments that naturally changed or decayed over time: wooden and string instruments, voices, tape, and granular synthesis.
She began recording basic layers in her 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.
The witty and literal lyrics are bolstered by gritty guitar and Rose singing, “I just gotta take a beat / To get some fresh air in my lungs.” It’s fabulously dynamic in texture with different fortes and meticulous phrasing. Rose has reached new heights on this record, executing her ideas flawlessly.
the upcoming album ‘The Art of Forgetting’ out March 24th through NewWestRecords
The Fat Angel Sings 