Caroline Carter is an indie-rock musician based in Nashville, Tennessee by way of Fort Worth, Texas, who found themselves a place in the songwriting world through early experiences with musical theater and playwriting. For the past several years, they have been releasing perfectly curated indie-pop, sometimes folk-adjacent, projects with soft melodies and hard-hitting lyrics. This next project, Fetch!, provides a smooth departure from the Caroline Carter that fans may be used to, but marks a mature evolution in their sound. Inspired by the post-grunge movement and Nashville underground rock scene, following their 2024 EP I Did What I Promised, they set out to create something grittier, grungier, and more experimental. We sat down with Caroline ahead of the release of Fetch! to learn more about their creative process, biggest influences, the themes presented in the project, and so much more.
BR: Beyond the songwriting and each track’s meaning, I’d love to hear your story about everything else that went into this project, and the creative process of it all.
CC: Differently to how I made my first project, I wanted to lay out the foundation for all the songs at the same time. So I blocked out 5 days with my producer, and each day was dedicated to one of the 5 songs. [...] Doing that kind of helped create this world that we were in, and I think it really added to the project feeling as cohesive as it does. There are certain parts to some songs, or plug-ins or vocal effects, that are later revisited in other parts of the project, and I think doing it that way really helped brings all those ideas to life. Externally, for the visual, and more creative world, the project is about fear, and shame, and guilt, so I wanted it to look dark and moody. And scary. It was always going to be called Fetch! and there was always going to be a dog theme there, and that photoshoot that we did was just supposed to be for press and socials, but what we ended up with ended up matching the vibe of the project so well, so we ended up using those and allowing them to lay the groundwork for the rest of the visual creative world of Fetch!.
BR: I was going to ask about the dog. Was it your dog? And what’s its name?
CC: It’s funny how sporadically it all came together. I already wanted to do a shoot with [Sofia Valladares] because her work is beautiful, but then I texted her and I was like, ‘You have a dog… and I think I wanna steal your dog for the shoot.’ It ended up just working out really well and looking even better than I had planned originally. And her name is Bean!
Diving into the EP, its lead singles ‘Jacob’ and ‘Watchdog’ bring up the rear of the project, but it begins with two brand-new tracks, ‘321’ and ‘Scratch.’ Immediately it becomes very evident that Caroline is an evolved musician, as these tracks carry a new, more mature punch, never before heard in their previous works. Caroline tells me that the song they’re most excited for listeners to experience is ‘321,’ and I immediately agree. They reveal that it was actually the last song that they wrote for the project, which allowed them to create it in a way that it encapsulates and introduces the rest of the project to come. It transitions perfectly into ‘Scratch’ and sets the scene for the tracks following that, both thematically and sonically.
BR: Something that I notice, oftentimes once an artist releases a project, the pressure is immediately on them to follow it up. How are you handling release day, and looking ahead to what’s next for you?
CC: Now it looks wildly different than what it used to. The last time I put a project out was over a year and a half ago, and… I was excited that it was coming out, but I also knew in the back of my mind that it wasn’t 100% how I wanted my music to sound. I’m not regretful of putting it out, but I’ve always known that I wanted to make something a little more gritty. For that project, I was excited and I did celebrate, but I knew planning ahead that I wanted to tap into a darker sound. Now that I have done that, it’s really nice to put something out, and have it be a full body of work that I’m just as excited about, 9 months after starting it. I’m trying to focus on that, normally on release days I’m freaking out so much, but today I’m not going to do anything crazy. I’m going to hang out with my friends when it comes out, and then go to sleep and really let myself be excited about it. Of course I am planning ahead, and I have things recorded to come out soon, but I’m trying to keep the excitement about Fetch! coming out, because I am very proud of it.
BR: I’m really interested to hear what type of stuff was on your playlist when you were working on this project, and what inspired you in this process.
CC: I would say that the biggest inspiration for Fetch!, if we’re talking an album or artist, was Wisecrack by Haley Blais. It’s just such a perfect album, and it’s got everything in there that I would love to put into my own artistry. She is just such a wonderful songwriter, her voice is so insane, I think her production really elevates her music instead of oversaturating it… it’s so genius and jarring and weird, but it sounds really cool. Everything about that album was super eye-opening to me and I think I wouldn’t have produced any of the Fetch! songs the same way if I hadn’t listened to it.
Listening to Caroline’s music, you can see a lot of artists and influences in their work, but it always sets itself apart from its peers in one way or another. You can listen to a song and hear Lizzy Mcalpine or Sydney Rose, or with their new work, someone grittier like Phoebe Bridgers or Julia Wolf, but there is always something more, something different, that distinguishes it as distinctively Caroline. They are very inspired by the juxtaposition between soft vocals and heavy guitar and production, and combining different genres of music into something unique and fresh. As Caroline mentions of themselves and their peers, “It’s refreshing to have the same indie-rock feel, and not listen to a man sing it.” And to that, I say, “I know! For once.”
Whenever I get the opportunity to sit down with musicians, I’m always eager to hear about their creative process and passions; parts of their artistry that they may not get the chance to discuss in a typical interview.
When I shared this with Caroline, she smiled.
CC: I had this thought this morning in the shower, this hot take… and you know, when you’re in the shower, you think you’re Socrates or something,
We both laughed.
CC: I was thinking about how artists have been presenting their personalities online, there’s this trend of acting super nonchalant, and I’m like… I wanna know why that’s such a rising trend, because why would I wanna listen to something that the artist themself isn’t excited about? That’s my hot take… I’m so sick and tired of seeing these artists, no matter how big or small, that are trying to display this indifferent persona. I want so badly to know how they really feel about their art. I think it’s not embarrassing to be excited about something that you spend so long making, and that took me a really long time to unlearn. Ever since I’ve finished this project and realized for myself, ‘Holy shit, this is something that I really believe in,’ I think it’s important to not only remind myself, but also my peers and other artists, it’s cool to start believing in yourselves!
Fetch! is out on all streaming platforms now, and if you’re lucky enough to find yourself in Nashville, Tennessee on May 29th, you can catch Caroline live at their Fetch! release show. Otherwise, keep up with them on their socials to stay in the know about any other upcoming shows and releases they may have planned for this year.