Caroline Rose’s portrayal of life in the United States highlights the absurdities of its 21st-century culture and the way the singer-songwriter fits into the country’s foibles. The title of their seventh album evokes an image of trying to tame a shopping center’s coin-operated playground item, an ambition that’s both childlike and reflective of the way American suburbia can spawn surrealistic characters. Gentling the Horse at the Walt Whitman Mall, which Rose recorded with producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, The Mountain Goats), balances both those qualities, combining a restless spunk with deep character study. Songs like the breakneck opener, “Yip Yip Yow,” and the synth-shocked “Hello Again, Jim” whip together Americana’s twang and VFW-hall punk’s sidelong glances at society, while the majestic closer, “Everything in Its Right Place,” captures a moment of coming to terms with oneself in the Taco Bell drive-through—an arrival at inner peace that is quintessentially American, recounted with the respect and awe that only a performer like Rose could summon.