Caroline Polachek

Time for her own thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zEQJrggKgk

New single co-written & co-produced with Danny L Harle. I like this more than "Bunny" with a real Kate Bush vibe to the kids choir coda. 2022 album seems likely.

I don't know much about her, but it reminds me of a lot of '90s trip-hop adjacent stuff, like Golden Palominos with Lori Carson, that sort of stuff.

For those who are unfamiliar...
- Polachek was the lead singer of synth-pop band Chairlift who had 3 albums between 2008 and 2016. A couple songs to check out from that era are "Moth to the Flame" and "I Belong In Your Arms," which placed #77 and #8, respectively, in their years' ILM Tracks Polls. The album Something was #36 in the ILM 2012 poll.
- During that time, Polachek put out a solo album called Arcadia under the name Ramona Lisa. Right after Chairlift broke up, Polachek released an album under her initials CEP called Drawing the Target Around the Arrow in 2017. I haven't heard either of these and would be interested in others thoughts on these.
- Two years later she released Pang, working with PC Music's Danny L Harle--it placed 15th in the ILM Albums poll; "So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings" placed #34 (too low!) and "Door" placed #20 in the ILM tracks poll.

she just (minutes ago) posted a new cover of "long road home" by her recent collaborator opn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUbfgRI8G38

I really dig this. Thanks.

Damn, she's opening here tomorrow for Dua Lipa.

Thanks for the heads up.

I don’t see much overlap between fans of Polachek and Dua Lipa but I’d pay for that.

Not a huge fan of Danny as a solo artist, but definitely like him as a producer and the chemistry when paired with Polachek.

somehow "So Hot" passed me by at the time but I've more than made up for it over the last few months

i got really into her stuff a few months ago when I heard Bunny is a Rider.

Not a huge fan of Danny as a solo artist, but definitely like him as a producer and the chemistry when paired with Polachek.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Saturday, February 12, 2022 12:06 AM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Same

somehow "So Hot" passed me by at the time but I've more than made up for it over the last few months

― sloop johnnin' skater (geoffreyess), Saturday, February 12, 2022 9:11 AM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah it is amazing

SHYHMF is basically a Corrs song but I love it

featured on new track by Flume

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cDDp_uWFsI

so hot hits like a pro tools tango in the night thing. it’s p good. sometimes her stuff seems a bit … optimized but i feel like something big could be on the horizon for her

flume track vox reminds me of the fifth element alien opera scene. find the production a bit grating

Flume’s production in general is super obnoxious to me.

She makes a great pairing with Danny.

I think I said this on a chairlift thread but she strikes me as extremely academic, which I think is part of what you mean when you say stuff seems a bit "optimized". It's extremely informed in approach. It often feels to me like it shouldn't be working at all which is partly why I like it as much as I do.

yeah academic and informed are good descriptors. she def has serious talent and range. saw her do an experimental / instrumental set once and thought she did better than those on the bill whose only gig is that sort of thing

She is currently at the peak of her powers. She’s definitely talented and knows exactly what she wants her songs to sound like.

Every generation has its Kate Bush and I firmly believe Caroline Polachek is filling that role atm.

you have reached your maximum allotted Kate Bushes per generation (1)

I wish Kate Bush would have made as good an album as Pang.

max allotted bad takes per thread

fair enough

New song “sunset” out on monday.

Going with the live performance it slaps. Balearic 90’s flamenco pop thing

Exciting! But we need a new album. I've worn out all the grooves on Pang.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YBP-D6vQIA

really like this one

first one I'm not enthused by in a while. It's alright I guess.

sunset[gerudo_valleygirl_mix].mp3 pic.twitter.com/ySMdnmaUJO

— Caroline Polachek (@carolineplz) October 22, 2022

I like So Hot You're Hurting my Feelings and work with Ice Choir

sunset[gerudo_valleygirl_mix].mp3

lol, first song that came to my mind too. I like this song a lot tho

I LOOOOVE 'SUNSET'

this song feels like it could singlehandedly get me through the winter

I like it a lot too and also really like the very mid-00s bleak house Sofia Kourtesis mix of 'Sirens'

it reminds me of azoto, san salvador

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Akp38JIXiZU

another new single on the way next week. just release an album please

https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/caroline-polachek-announces-new-single-welcome-to-my-island

Sounds like there's a new album, 'Desire, I Want to Turn Into You'.

Rolling Stone said that 'Bunny is a Rider' was the lead single, but

there are a lot of random things being said online about what’s on Desire, but unless you hear it from me it isn’t true 💋🐜🐜🐜

— Caroline Polachek (@carolineplz) December 5, 2022

apple music has it as 12 tracks with "welcome to my island" being track 1, "bunny is a rider" being track 3, "sunset" being track 4, and "billions" as track 12 so...?

If the quality of the rest of the album is as high as the previous 3 singles I don’t mind if she takes another year to release it.

Oh fcuk i dont know if its an error but the song is available on spotify mx right now

Yes, idk if they fucked up but it’s available right now. Don’t know if it’s only working in my country or its a worlwide fuckup. Here’s the link:

https://open.spotify.com/album/53LBDupH6C8cJvPEzH6nKI

Least interesting single so far on first listen - sounds like Caroline doing a Haim song - but it still has great production with some weird choices like that “vocal guitar solo” thing she does that makes it stand out from other 80’s pastiche.

It’s on spotify as an EP with the 4 songs released so far, it might be a confirmation that Bunny is also considered as part of the same album.

Maybe it’s a real guitar

the single being out is intentional yeah

it's good

I think Caroline's post was referring not so much to "Bunny..." being on the album, but to other unreleased songs, the titles of which have leaked.

That’s some bad cover art right there

On the Billions single there’s a song called “long road home” with OPN that I don’t remember being there before?

Is that a new “hidden” track or has that always been there and I hadn’t noticed?

Oh yeah apparently it has always been there… weird first time I see it

That’s some bad cover art right there

― im a beacon of light (Spottie)

You mean the single or the album cover? I kind of like all the singles artwork but the actual album cover is not good imho and doesn’t follow the “all black” background of the singles. “Bunny is a rider” is the best one for me.

https://shop.carolinepolachek.com/products/desire-lp

I kind of hate when album covers do fake “vinyl wear” or distressed textures. Idk if the plastic fold texture is part of the actual album cover but I hate it lol.

Moodles, are you an opera singer yourself?

no, I am merely telling you what she says in the video about 5 seconds before she does the thing that people were commenting on

I can't sing at all so I have no idea how she's doing what she's doing muscularly (tbh even using vibrato is somewhat magical to me), but it sounds really cool. It seems like it might be similar to a trumpet player doing lip slurs going between notes (at least in terms of the effect, different physical mechanism obviously).

Heh. I thought people where talking about the way she emphasized the word “sound” which was actually at the 2:30 mark, I didn’t even get to the autotune part.

All this time I also thought that's what you all were talking about, lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_p657VvFww

After that finished playing I got an ad for Don Giovanni at the Met, DO U SEE?

Comments there say it is akin to yodeling.

Or sideways yodeling even.

She's flipping between her "head voice" and her "chest voice", which is exactly yodelling, she's just trained her head voice to be low-enough to be in the same range as her chest voice. It's not much different from what Dolores was doing in The Cranberries. It's pretty neat

https://iv1.lisimg.com/image/13860578/245full-madonna%3A-truth-or-dare-screenshot.jpg

It's not much different from what Dolores was doing in The Cranberries.

My wife has some musical theater training and this is exactly the reference point she used — "It's like in 'Zombie.'" (She also made the "head voice"/"chest voice" distinction.)

very cool

Do we have an existing thread for discussion of head voice, chest voice, vibrato, etc?

This maybe: Is there a word for the opposite of falsetto?

The opposite of falsetto is when you sing through your butt, I call it fartsetto

Thank you, Bart Simpson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XYyDsl14E4

3 songs live on KEXP. Such a good performer.

wow, she's in fine voice.

Her range as a singer has expanded dramatically since the Chairlift days

I fuckin' love this album.

"Bunny is a Rider" is ace.

Probably my AOTY

Wish there was no Grimes track tbh

i forgot she was on it actually. I'm still not as hot on this album as I was on Pang but it's pretty good.

https://x.com/carolineplz/status/1706815548724822407?s=20

Tiny Desk Concertt NPR performance. Great control of her voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmnZHQNN5cc

Wow, gotta say this is the most I've ever "gotten" CP, one of those times where the stripped down format really works.

The drummer is great, I knew him from his viral drum & bass instagram vids, and I'd love to know if he got the gig through that or if he's a working drummer who also happens to be big on social media.

Yeah amazing drummer and the stripped down setting makes her voice even more impressive.

yeah it really highlights just how incredible her voice is. it makes me want to hear her do a more acoustic or orchestral album

i also really like the keyboard making acoustic guitar sounds alongside the actual acoustic guitars, great combo

That gave me some early Dead Can Dance vibes

New song “Dang”, premiered via this excellent slide presentation on The Late Show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UsIcDivsls

That was awesome

fun presentation, though I don't love the actual song, probably the most Chairlift-sounding of her solo career so far

"Dang" is fun, so much ear candy in it

They reran that Colbert performance from last week in an otherwise new episode this week, so strong the buzz.

She always impresses.

she was fantastic live and played extra songs for the last show of the tour including an unplanned second "so hot"

i only wish she'd thrown in some chairlift songs too because they had some classics too

New version of "Butterfly Net" with Weyes Blood from the forthcoming deluxe edition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBK4qzZNgR0

well shit, their voices sound incredible together

gorgeous

the original was probably my favorite song on Desire, and this is a step up from that

"hopedrunk everasking" is incredible

didn't realize people thought it was filler. i got stuck repeating that one on my first listen through of the album. if that's filler, i can't wait for the rest of the songs to open up with further listens

I would have guessed "Spring Is Coming With a Strawberry in the Mouth" was an original song, but instead it's a cover and a surprisingly faithful one. glad she shone some light on that song, I like her version and the original

yeah I'd never heard that song either, original is so good (so is her cover).

Oh the original is great! Nice discovery!

Also it seems the original was produced by Bono which is… unexpected.

Nice, got into the Operating Theatre song when it got a reissue last year - cool to hear this version.

omg immense tune. Hadn't heard of it.

this page says

the Mother Records label. Established by U2 in 1984 and initially intended to launch Irish bands, many of the acts – including this one – were subsequently unhappy about the label’s haphazard approach to releases and lack of promotion. The record was released as a die cut 7 inch with the two main tracks and a 12 inch EP with additional tracks – ‘Part of My Make-Up’ / ‘Atlantean’ / ‘Satanasa’. The Mother experience was for Doyle and the rest of the group a frustrating one with no promotional plan and no tour. After that Operating Theatre as a quasi pop project ‘just kind of fizzled out’ says Doyle.”

fuck you bono!

Oh now the Bono credit makes sense. Damn that sucks.