The Lucky One, by Caroline Says

The Lucky One

by Caroline Says

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- Packaged in a heavy jacket with matte lamination
- Vinyl housed in a deluxe poly-lined inner sleeve
- Cover photo by Ebru Yildiz
- Additional original artwork by Clare Drummond
- Mastered by Heba Kadry
- Mixed by Nate Mendelsohn

Includes unlimited streaming of The Lucky One via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.

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1.	The Lucky One 01:47	buy track
2.	Faded and Golden 03:13 video	buy track
3.	Actors 02:19	buy track
4.	Eyes in the Night 03:44	buy track
5.	Palm Reader 03:00	buy track
6.	Dust 01:51	buy track
7.	Always Looking Back 05:17	buy track
8.	Roses 04:11	buy track
9.	Daze 02:40	buy track
10.	Lightning 02:01	buy track
11.	Like We Do 02:46	buy track
12.	Something Good 02:35	buy track

about

Alabama native Caroline Sallee, aka Caroline Says, started exploring the intricate nature of regret and the strangely persistent impact of fragments of our pasts with the release of her 2017 debut album, 50 Million Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong. In 2018, after relocating to Austin, TX, she continued her character studies on her sophomore album, No Fool Like An Old Fool, with each song, as Pitchfork noted, evoking a sense of "...her ghosts never quite disappearing from the rearview mirror." Those ghosts take center stage on her latest album, The Lucky One, on which her gaze is fixed more clearly than ever on the evocative landscapes of our memories – hometown bars, road trips, and late-night swims – and how these memories continue to shape who we are today. Throughout the writing process, an almost Dickensian triad of perspective emerged as Sallee moved from Texas back to Alabama, and then to Brooklyn, each new location informing her sense of past, present, and future. Like her previous two albums, Caroline wrote, performed, and recorded everything you hear on The Lucky One, a process that magnifies the insular clarity of her vision as she stitches together her casually sophisticated melodies and forlorn lyrics.

Opening with the album's title track "The Lucky One" she confronts death's role in shaping our memories head-on, as it ponders the way death freezes a person in time, forcing us to confront the complexities of grief and its lasting impact on our relationship with the one we lost. Other tracks delve into the complexities of relationships that naturally grow apart as life takes us in different directions. For example, "Faded and Golden" reflects on the bittersweet nature of reunions with old friends, where the idealized memories of youth can clash with the realities of the present. Then, "Actors" takes this a step further, acknowledging the influence of perception and desire in friendships, and the idea that in many ways “all friendships are imaginary friendships," as it confronts the disappointment of inauthentic connections, and the facades we sometimes put on in relationships.

A thread of self-discovery/analysis is also present throughout the album. "Palm Reader" explores our yearning for sincerity and certainty, both in the predictions of a fortune teller and in the fleeting encounters of daily life. Conversely, "Like We Do" celebrates youthful innocence, while also touching on the subjectivity of memory, with the line "who remembers it best and who remembers it right..." highlighting how two people can experience the same event, yet hold vastly different recollections of the details.

"Roses" began when Caroline was looking through her grandma's collection of commemorative Kentucky Derby glasses, each one etched with the name of a winner. The song delves into the story of "Sunday Silence," the horse that won the year Caroline was born. Researching the horse's journey from near-Triple Crown glory to retirement in Japan sparked a metaphor – a pressured being (the horse) desperately trying to please but ultimately disappointing. The owners eventually selling the horse becomes a relatable symbol of unmet expectations, and the sting of falling short despite our best efforts.

Album closer, "Something Good," revisits Caroline's Alabama childhood. Lost on a recent trip to Birmingham, unable to find the familiar path to a riverside hangout, the experience becomes a powerful metaphor; we can't always retrace the paths in our memories, but those memories, however unreliable, continue to shape us. In the end, The Lucky One celebrates this enduring power, acknowledging how past relationships and experiences, even those lost to the haze of time, continue to inform the stories we tell ourselves, and the way we navigate the present.

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released October 11, 2024

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Caroline Says Austin, Texas

SoundCloud

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Nov 8

Pete's Candy Store

Brooklyn, NY
Nov 21

Cassette

Ridgewood, NY

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