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Los Angeles, California's Caroline Rose Launches SUCK Records With 'Gentling the Horse at the Walt Whitman Mall'
The labor-organizing songwriter's John Congleton-produced album is the first release on their own label, capping a fall run opening for Modest Mouse.
Caroline Rose stopped waiting on the music business. The Los Angeles, California-based songwriter released Gentling the Horse at the Walt Whitman Mall on Oct. 23, 2026, as the first release on SUCK records, Rose's own newly launched imprint.
JamBase calls it "a hyperreal Americana fantasy," and John Congleton produced it.
Why start a label called SUCK
Rose launched the imprint in response to what WXPN's World Cafe described as "an industry that exploits artists." Rose has been organizing with musicians, venue workers and independent crews around stronger labor protections and collective bargaining rights, according to FEMMUSIC and JamBase, and FEMMUSIC says the music has evolved alongside that work.
Rose also recently finished a series of pop-up shows built around independent spaces and zero ticketing fees for fans, FEMMUSIC reported. As World Cafe put it: "You cannot put Caroline Rose into a box."
Surf guitars and suburban unease
FEMMUSIC describes the album as "surf guitars, spaghetti westerns, and suburban dread colliding." The material is personal. "Most of these stories are just pulled directly from scenes in my own life," Rose said.
Opener "Yip Yip Yow" was released earlier in 2026 and reached the Top 25 on the Billboard and Mediabase AAA charts through programmer support alone, per FEMMUSIC. Follow-up "Chow Mein" arrived with a visualizer, per JamBase. Rose's premise: "This is a story about trying too hard to be cool and act normal, but everything is going wrong."
On World Cafe, Rose also played a song they'd been performing for nearly a decade but only recently recorded for this album.
The new record extends a run that includes Loner (2018), Superstar (2020), The Art of Forgetting (2023) and Year of the Slug (2025). Rose was born on Long Island and grew up in Center Moriches, New York, before settling in L.A..
On the road with Modest Mouse, then Noise Pop
Rose spent the fall opening for Modest Mouse across North America, a run that started Sept. 29 in Madison, Wisconsin, and wrapped on release day, Oct. 23, in Sacramento, California. FEMMUSIC's tour list also includes in-store signings or performances in New York, the U.K., Dublin, Berlin and Paris.
California fans have another date to circle. Rose is on the lineup for Noise Pop 2027, which takes over San Francisco venues Feb. 18–28, KQED reported.
Where to listen and follow
Stream Gentling the Horse at the Walt Whitman Mall, out now on SUCK records, on your preferred service.
Sources
JamBase — "Caroline Rose Announces New Album 'Gentling The Horse At The Walt Whitman Mall'"
FEMMUSIC — "Caroline Rose – Gentling the Horse at the Walt Whitman Mall"
WXPN — "How Caroline Rose threw out the rulebook on their latest album"
KQED — "Noise Pop Gears Up for Its 2027 Return With Deerhoof and More"
Wikipedia — "Caroline Rose"