Press Play: Caroline Says

As the holidays arrive and the year winds down, Caroline Says’ sense of weariness and hope for the future is ever more relatable. The woman behind Caroline Says, Caroline Sallee, crafts songs that lie between West Coast folk and introspective bedroom pop.

Caroline Says’ debut album 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong was inspired by a trip she took to the West Coast, and after this trip, the LP was recorded in the basement of her family’s home in Alabama. 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong feels like you’re staring wistfully out of a window on a road trip, observing the scenery changing. Sallee traverses diverse sounds on the album, incorporating gentle bossa nova in “My Fiance’s Pets” and jangly garage rock on “Ghost Pokes.” There’s an effortlessness to her gear shifting, and it is suitable to the soft folk style that tethers the album together.

Caroline Says 2018 album No Fool Like an Old Fool is dreary yet dreamy with soft harmonies and stifled beats. The opening track “First Song” encompasses the overall mood with quiet acoustic guitar picking, spacey effects, and vocals that are just above a murmur. The album’s first single “Sweet Home Alabama” is a whirling, soulful 60s-esque song blanketed with warm, crackling vinyl. Over drowsy drum and guitar loops, Sallee reminisces on her hometown and realizes there is nothing left for her. The album includes a lot of slow, soft moments but there is still some jangle to be found, especially on “Mea Culpa.”

Sallee begins right where No Fool Like an Old Fool left off on her new EP Ohio River. The opener “Falling Knife” brings you right back into the dreamy Caroline Says headspace. The song is also a standout track with its catchy electric guitar line and soaring synths. The EP is full of indie-folk reveries that establish Sallee as a force to be reckoned with.