Caroline Rose - "Valery (please don't be mad at me)"

Photo by Seannie Bryan
One of my favorite things about following Caroline Rose for the past decade or so is that they are constantly evolving and reinventing their sound. Their latest single, "Valery (please don't be mad at me)" sounds nothing like their previous songs but exactly like Caroline Rose. There's something oddly 80's about this song. It has that anthemic, working class troubadour sound artists like Bruce Springsteen and Rick Springfield... just through a bizarre indie rock meets indie pop prism. I try to see Rose every time they come through the area, and "Valery (please don't be mad at me)" has me even more thrilled than usual since I can't wait to see this one live. Get your lighters out and pump your fist for the latest from Caroline Rose!
Caroline Rose says of their latest single:
“A lot of this record pulls from stories from my hometown and fuses them with other stories from when I lived in NYC, so some characters might be a mix of two or three different people. ‘Valery’ is a combination of my best friend from my hometown, who passed away from a heroin overdose many years ago, along with another friend I loved so much who also became addicted to heroin and just had a really difficult life. I gravitate toward people in my life who have struggled, and they often come out as characters in my songs.”
You can watch the video for "Valery (please don't be mad at me)" below. Gentling the Horse at the Walt Whitman Mall is due out October 24 on SUCK Records, and is available to pre-order here. For more on Caroline Rose, check out the artist's website. Upcoming tour dates are below the video and include March 23 at The Sinclair in Cambridge, MA.
Fri. Oct. 23 - Sacramento, CA @ Channel 24*
Mon. Oct. 26 - New York, NY - Rough Trade +
Wed. Oct. 28 - London, UK - Rough Trade East +
Fri. Oct. 30 - Bristol, UK - Rough Trade Bristol +
Sun. Nov. 1 - Nottingham, UK - Rough Trade Nottingham +
Mon. Nov. 2 - Liverpool, UK - Rough Trade Liverpool +
Wed. Nov. 4 - Glasgow, UK - Assai +
Thu. Nov. 5 - Dublin, IE - Spindizzy +
Mon. Nov. 9 - Berlin, DE - Rough Trade Berlin +
Thu. Nov. 12 - Paris, FR - Balades Sonores - Paris, FR +
Thu. Nov. 26 - Sydney, AU @ The Lansdowne Hotel
Fri. Nov. 27 - Melbourne, AU @ Smith St Hotel
Fri. Feb. 26 - Felton, CA @ Felton Music Hall
Sat. Feb. 27 - San Francisco, CA @ The Castro Theatre
Tue. Mar. 2 - Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
Wed. Mar. 3 - Bellingham, WA @ Mount Baker Theatre
Thu. Mar. 4 - Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret
Sat. Mar. 6 - Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
Tue. Mar. 9 - Fort Collins, CO @ Aggie Theatre
Wed. Mar. 10 - Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre
Fri. Mar. 12 - Kansas City, MO @ recordBar
Sat. Mar. 13 - Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
Sun. Mar. 14 - Madison, WI @ Atwood Music Hall
Tue. Mar. 16 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Thu. Mar. 18 - Toronto, ON @ Mod Club
Fri. Mar. 19 - Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB
Sat. Mar. 20 - Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
Tue. Mar. 23 - New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Wed. Mar. 24 - Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
Fri. Mar. 26 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Sat. Mar. 27 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
Sun. Mar. 28 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle
Mon. Mar. 29 - Atlanta, GA @ The EARL (Early & Late Shows)
Tue. Mar. 30 - New Orleans, LA @ Broadside
Wed. Mar. 31 - Sun. Apr. 4 - Boise, ID @ Treefort Music Fest
Thu. Apr. 1 - Austin, TX @ Radio/East
Thu. May 20 - Los Angeles, CA @ Sid The Cat Auditorium
* = w/ Modest Mouse
+ = in-store signing/performance