If you’ve spent any time with Caroline Strickland at some point you’ve heard her say, “I want you to be part of it.” What it is depends, though, on where she is, what she's focused on, hell the time of day, it can be anything, but whatever it is, it is intense, vulnerable, tight in every way, and, for Caroline, entirely exhausting, so it, whatever it is, takes everything out of her.    That seems to be how she likes it. Caroline wakes up early and goes to bed late, runs around Brooklyn and Manhattan, works her body like an athlete. It’s how she processes and handles the song writing, which, like a slowburn, is part of everything, there when she wakes up and as she runs around, guitar strapped to her like a backpack. Caroline’s rock music isn't supposed to sound like anyone else. Her favorite musicians are PJ Harvey and Pixies, some think she sounds like early Liz Phair, but she listens to a different artist every single day; it’s how she continues to surprise herself, and it’s brutal, but she puts herself through it so she can put you through it, too.   Caroline grew up singing in church choirs; she was the number one alto in Prince William county in 2016. In high school and college she started cover bands and once she stopped closing her eyes on stage she began writing songs of her own. That was around the time she moved, alone, to New York City, during the pandemic, to busk in Tompkins Sq. Park and gig, and there was no direction, I’m not even sure there was the name, there was just it, the music. The first EP came out in 2023, the second in 2025, then she got it, what it is now, and she had to put out an album in 2026.   Caroline Strickland is an exposed rock musician; she wants to rock and she wants to feel close to you. It’s all about the songwriting but she’s most proud of her guitar playing, and when she locks in with the band—collaborators she’s worked with closely: MJ Upstairs as back up vocals, Holly Nance on bass, Ethan Dunne at lead guitar, and James Paul Nadien, who has played with Caroline from the beginning and has shaped the evolving ideas, drumming—the music is at its best. The sound is indie rock and stormy vocals. The drums slam and the rhythm guitar chugs as the lead guitar responds to the singing and MJ elevates in crescendo. Caroline’s dark sound is full of pathos and answers to the room, the shape of the sounds and journey of the voice is the center of the experience. Perhaps that’s why she, still, sometimes, closes her eyes on stage. The stories are about being a woman in her twenties in New York City, which is epic, and abstract, and brutal, whatever it is she tries to get it in there. And it’s still being discovered, and she’s on her way.