Caroline Polachek Loves Mess
New York magazine|February 13 - 26, 2023
For her mucky, bold, feminine new album, the singer gets primal.
By Rachel Handler
Caroline Polachek Loves Mess

Caroline Polachek wasn't out to scandalize the zoo. She made the three-hour journey from Los Angeles, where she was deep in final-edit mode for her new album, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You, to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, a wildlife preserve in Escondido, with the purest of intentions: She wanted to see Kurt. He's the world's first successfully cloned Przewalski's horse, an endangered breed with a fun little mohawk that needed some scientific intervention to survive. As a self-proclaimed Connecticut "horse girl" who obsessed over and rode horses until she was 15, Polachek hoped to spend a couple of hours learning about Kurt's unconventional genesis and marveling at his unnatural splendor. "It feels kind of symbolic and beautiful to do this," she tells me from the back of a truck, riding bumpily to Kurt's habitat.

The mood is cheerful, for now: she and I, two extremely polite zoo staff members, and a photographer. Polachek is particularly moved by the mud around us, which has oozed and twisted into new shapes after the recent torrential rains; the zoo team describes this as "a mess," but she longingly calls it "mud architecture." "A lot of the motifs I'm playing with on this record are about using elemental, primal textures. Dirt and the earth coming up in different ways volcanoes, especially-as a metaphor for the subconscious and for everything we've repressed during the pandemic," Polachek says. "The elemental vitality that springs up again." I ask if she's referring to the thick brown lava that she graphically vomits up in the video for the album's fourth single, "Welcome to My Island." She laughs. "I mean, literally, yes."

This story is from the February 13 - 26, 2023 edition of New York magazine.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the February 13 - 26, 2023 edition of New York magazine.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM NEW YORK MAGAZINEView All
LIFE AS A MILLENNIAL STAGE MOM
New York magazine

LIFE AS A MILLENNIAL STAGE MOM

A journey into the CUTTHROAT and ADORABLE world of professional CHILD ACTORS.

time-read
10+ mins  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025
THE NEXT DRUG EPIDEMIC IS BLUE RASPBERRY FLAVORED
New York magazine

THE NEXT DRUG EPIDEMIC IS BLUE RASPBERRY FLAVORED

When the Amor brothers started selling tanks of flavored nitrous oxide at their chain of head shops, they didn't realize their brand would become synonymous with the country's burgeoning addiction to gas.

time-read
10+ mins  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025
Two Texans in Williamsburg
New York magazine

Two Texans in Williamsburg

David Nuss and Sarah Martin-Nuss tried to decorate their house on their own— until they realized they needed help: Like, how do we not just go to Pottery Barn?”

time-read
3 mins  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025
ADRIEN BRODY FOUND THE PART
New York magazine

ADRIEN BRODY FOUND THE PART

The Brutalist is the best, most personal work he's done since The Pianist.

time-read
10+ mins  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025
Art, Basil
New York magazine

Art, Basil

Manuela is a farm-to-table gallery for hungry collectors.

time-read
4 mins  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025
'Sometimes a Single Word Is Enough to Open a Door'
New York magazine

'Sometimes a Single Word Is Enough to Open a Door'

How George C. Wolfein collaboration with Audra McDonald-subtly, indelibly reimagined musical theater's most domineering stage mother.

time-read
10+ mins  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025
Rolling the Dice on Bird Flu
New York magazine

Rolling the Dice on Bird Flu

Denial, resilience, déjà vu.

time-read
5 mins  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025
The Most Dangerous Game
New York magazine

The Most Dangerous Game

Fifty years on, Dungeons & Dragons has only grown more popular. But it continues to be misunderstood.

time-read
10+ mins  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025
88 MINUTES WITH...Andy Kim
New York magazine

88 MINUTES WITH...Andy Kim

The new senator from New Jersey has vowed to shake up the political Establishment, a difficult task in Trump's Washington.

time-read
6 mins  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025
Apex Stomps In
New York magazine

Apex Stomps In

The $44.6 million mega-Stegosaurus goes on view (for a while) at the American Museum of Natural History.

time-read
1 min  |
December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025