Caroline Rose has two new songs out today, and they arrive with a clear mission: one mocks her own anxiety, the other skewers a specific kind of industry creep. The tracks, “Calm” and “Hello Again, Jim,” are the latest previews of Gentling The Horse At The Walt Whitman Mall, her upcoming album due 10/23 via her own SUCK records.
Rose described “Calm” as a sardonic take on feeling mentally unwell. “I oftentimes lean on sarcasm and humor to get a point across when it’s something that’s actually really hard for me to deal with,” she said. “One of the recurring themes in my life is feeling like I have about 20,000 different voices in my head all saying different things and I feel remarkably ‘uncalm.’ So this was sort of a sardonic take on feeling mentally unwell.”
The second track takes a more pointed aim. “‘Hello Again, Jim’ offers an incisive take on toxic men in the music industry,” Rose continued. “You know Jim. The most ‘chill’ guy in the room but also dates 22 year olds and drives a Porsche. Very calm demeanor brought to you by his wealth and power. Loves to appear alternative. Unfortunately there are about 9000 Jims in the music industry.”
Jimmi Simpson Shows Up In The Video
“Hello Again, Jim” comes with a music video directed by Chloé Aktaş and starring Jimmi Simpson. Aktaş explained her approach to the project:
“From the beginning, I wanted the ‘Hello Again, Jim’ video to feel like a scene from a film that existed within Caroline’s musical world. Their videos are ambitious and cinematic and I wanted this to carry that same energy.”
She added that Caroline shared a Pinterest board filled with endless highways, fast-food signs, and imagery tied to “America” or the idea of what we’ve come to understand as “American.” The team settled on a bar setting for the shoot, with a barkeep trying to close for the night while a band refuses to stop playing.
A Barkeep’s Quiet Revelation
Aktaş described the video’s ending as a quiet, almost spiritual moment. “I knew I wanted the barkeep to experience a shift by the end of the song, like a quiet, almost spiritual revelation as he catches his breath in a booth,” she said. She noted the ambiguity of the piece: “We don’t know if we’re actually inside his imagination, with Caroline’s song playing somewhere in the deep crevices of his mind.”
The Songs Arrive Together
Both tracks are now available to hear. The album, Gentling The Horse At The Walt Whitman Mall, is set for release on 10/23.
Rose’s Approach To Mental Unwellness
Rose’s description of “Calm” as a sardonic take on feeling mentally unwell is telling. She said she leans on sarcasm and humor to get through hard subjects. The song’s title is the joke — the irony of a person who feels anything but calm calling it that.
The Industry Portrait
The portrait of Jim is specific: a guy who is always chill because his wealth and power let him be. The video’s barkeep hallucination gives it a surreal visual layer.
Key Facts Box
- Album: Gentling The Horse At The Walt Whitman Mall
- Release date: 10/23
- Label: SUCK records
- Directed by: Chloé Aktaş
- Starring: Jimmi Simpson
- DP: Ariano Trevino Angelone
Order Of Listening
- “Calm” — the sardonic take on mental unwellness
- “Hello Again, Jim” — the incisive take on toxic men in the music industry
- The full album, arriving 10/23
The songs are a strong pair, and the video adds a surreal layer to the second track. Rose has a knack for making serious subjects funny without losing the point.
See the video the story is built around at Stereogum.
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