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Apr 21, 2025 Web Exclusive By Kyle Mullin

Caroline Rose’s new album, year of the slug, is loaded with one jolting pleasant surprise after the next. The glaring standout in this regard: “goddamn train.” Amidst 11 tracks veering between hazy indie pop to punky singer/songwriter fare, this centerpiece song rushes out the gate with its twangy guitar and fittingly stomping percussion. Rose—a Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter from New York—punctuates her vocals on “goddamn train” with long held humming that echoes the best ad-libs of classic Sun Records-era country. Her lyrics here are a stream of conscious list of things she feels pressured to do in a conformist, capitalist society, before giving way to more dysfunctional urges. Best of all: her juxtaposing an ad-rep worthy boast of “more foot room” being available in what she quickly reveals to be a meat grinder. That is but one example of how her lyrics are both plot twisty and twisted in the most distinct and riveting of ways.

That’s not only true of “goddamn train.” If audiences are surprised by the sudden use of country on that song, and wowed by the grisly details revealed upon repeated careful listens, then “conversation with shiv (liquid k song)” is sure to leave mouths agape. What starts as a stripped back but jaunty ditty à la McCartney in The Beatles’ prime immediately gives way to devastating social commentary as Rose sings about a friend’s visit to Planned Parenthood and her protagonist’s own eventual enrollment in rehab.

Fans of Canuck singer/songwriter Andy Shauf’s eerily wholesome sounding sonic vignettes will also feel right at home listening to year of the slug closer “kings of east LA.” As Rose rhymes off plot details like a friend bailing on an evening out as the rest of the group grabs a corner table, you’ll feel immersed in a familiar yet off kilter scene, especially as those characters eagerly turn to the sports bar’s screens for an unexpected choice: Indie 500 racing. Like an odd little underground film, the song’s setting and characters will linger in your mind’s eye.

When Rose lyrically zeroes in on bittersweet minutia, it’ll make your eyes sting and your heart pang. As the verses of “everything in its right place” mimic the song’s title, for instance, Rose casually mentions being well suited for the deepening lines on her face. She does so with soaring melody and sturdy songwriting structure that are both all the more impressive because of the minimalism throughout year of the slug’s 11 songs. She shoulders nearly all that narrative and emotional heft with her guitar, distinctive voice, and glass shard sharp lyricism.

So when Rose writes about calling up an old flame and overhearing them fry an egg, the tragic undertones of no longer sharing that domesticity will make you think of the emotional complexity in your own run of the mill routine. And it’ll make you yearn for music as layered as Rose’s to soundtrack it. (www.carolinerosemusic.com)

Author rating: 8/10